Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Montrose, Colorado, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,786 miles (or 7,703 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF Fairford and Montrose Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF Fairford and Montrose Regional Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.

Facts about Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ):

• Monarch Airlines started flying to Montrose in the 1940s.
• Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,040 miles (17,766 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Montrose Regional Airport is remodeling and expanding the passenger terminal adding 10,935 sq.
• The closest airport to Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) S of MTJ.
• Because of Montrose Regional Airport's high elevation of 5,759 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MTJ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MTJ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.