Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Portland, Oregon, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Portland International Airport (PDX), Portland, Oregon, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,852 miles (or 7,809 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 Portland International 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 Portland International 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 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.

Facts about Portland International Airport (PDX):

• Because of Portland International Airport's relatively low elevation of 30 feet, planes can take off or land at Portland International 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.
• Portland International Airport handled 1,502,956 passengers last year.
• A new terminal opened in 1959, which for the most part serves as the present facility.
• PDX has direct connections to major airport hubs throughout the United States, plus non-stop international flights to Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands.
• The international section of Concourse D was renamed the Governor Victor G.
• Portland International Airport (PDX) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Portland International Airport (PDX) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,903 miles (17,546 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Portland International Airport (PDX) is Portland-Troutdale Airport (TTD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ESE of PDX.
• Portland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S.
• Plans made in 1968 to add a third runway by means of filling in parts of the Columbia River were met with vocal public opposition and scrapped.
• The April 1957 OAG shows 38 United departures a day, 10 West Coast, 8 Northwest and 6 Western.