Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Istanbul, Turkey:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW), Istanbul, Turkey would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,644 miles (or 2,646 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 relatively short distance between RAF Fairford and İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.

Facts about İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW):

• The furthest airport from İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,160 miles (17,961 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• In addition to this, the airport is located just 14 km from the town of Pendik's railway and sea-taxi stations.
• The closest airport to İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) is Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) WNW of SAW.
• The shuttle services are operated by HAVATAŞ after stopped HAVAŞ operation.
• Because of İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport's relatively low elevation of 312 feet, planes can take off or land at İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen 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.
• In addition to being known as "İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport", another name for SAW is "Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararası Havalimanı".
• İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport handled 1,864,184 passengers last year.
• İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) currently has only 1 runway.