Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,877 miles (or 7,849 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 Santa Fe Municipal 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 Santa Fe Municipal 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 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle 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.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.

Facts about Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF):

• Currently, American Eagle operates Embraer ERJ-140 and ERJ-145 regional jets on all of its nonstop flights between Santa Fe and Dallas/Ft.
• Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,167 miles (17,972 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• After initially extending the deadline for closure to June 15, 2013, on May 10 the FAA announced that all federal contract towers previously threatened with closure in 2013 would remain open through September 30, the end of the 2013 fiscal year, using previously unallocated funds in the agency's general budget.
• The closest airport to Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) is Los Alamos Airport (LAM), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) NNW of SAF.
• Because of Santa Fe Municipal Airport's high elevation of 6,348 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at SAF. Combined with a high temperature, this could make SAF a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Later, several commuter airlines flew nonstop to Denver, including Mesa Airlines and Great Lakes Airlines with Beechcraft 1900Cs, and Pioneer Airlines with Beechcraft C99s.