Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Anambas Islands, Riau Province, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Matak Airport (MWK), Anambas Islands, Riau Province, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,798 miles (or 10,941 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 Matak 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 Matak 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):

• 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.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• 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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.

Facts about Matak Airport (MWK):

• Matak Airport (MWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Matak Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Matak Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The closest airport to Matak Airport (MWK) is Tioman Airport (TOD), which is located 149 miles (240 kilometers) WSW of MWK.
• The furthest airport from Matak Airport (MWK) is Crnl. FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport (IQT), which is nearly antipodal to Matak Airport (meaning Matak Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Crnl. FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport), and is located 12,394 miles (19,947 kilometers) away in Iquitos, Loreto, Peru.
• In addition to being known as "Matak Airport", another name for MWK is "Bandar Udara Matak".