Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Obihiro, Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tokachi-Obihiro Airport (OBO), Obihiro, Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,585 miles (or 8,988 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 Tokachi-Obihiro 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 Tokachi-Obihiro 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 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.
• 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 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.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• 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 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.

Facts about Tokachi-Obihiro Airport (OBO):

• Because of Tokachi-Obihiro Airport's relatively low elevation of 490 feet, planes can take off or land at Tokachi-Obihiro 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 Tokachi-Obihiro Airport (OBO) is Kushiro Airport (KUH), which is located 54 miles (87 kilometers) ENE of OBO.
• Tokachi-Obihiro Airport (OBO) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Tokachi-Obihiro Airport", another name for OBO is "とかち帯広空港".
• The furthest airport from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport (OBO) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,320 miles (18,218 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.