Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Popayán, Colombia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (PPN), Popayán, Colombia would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,438 miles (or 8,752 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 Guillermo Leónel Valencia 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 Guillermo Leónel Valencia 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):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.

Facts about Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (PPN):

• In addition to being known as "Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport", another name for PPN is "Aeropuerto Guillermo León Valencia".
• The furthest airport from Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (PPN) is Sultan Thaha Airport (DJB), which is nearly antipodal to Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (meaning Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Sultan Thaha Airport), and is located 12,378 miles (19,920 kilometers) away in Jambi, Indonesia.
• The closest airport to Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (PPN) is Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport (CLO), which is located 77 miles (124 kilometers) NNE of PPN.
• Because of Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport's relatively low elevation of 6 feet, planes can take off or land at Guillermo Leónel Valencia 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.
• Guillermo Leónel Valencia Airport (PPN) currently has only 1 runway.