Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Southend, Essex (near London) United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and London Southend Airport (SEN), Southend, Essex (near London) United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 107 miles (or 172 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 London Southend 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):

• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.

Facts about London Southend Airport (SEN):

• Because of London Southend Airport's relatively low elevation of 55 feet, planes can take off or land at London Southend 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 furthest airport from London Southend Airport (SEN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,885 miles (19,126 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• A frequent rail service to London Liverpool Street, with a journey time of about 53 minutes, runs via Stratford from Southend Airport railway station located about 200 m from the main terminal.
• London Southend Airport (SEN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Freddie Laker's Air Charter Limited operated flights from Southend from 1949.
• The airport is located between Rochford and Southend town centres, 1.5 NM north of Southend, in the county of Essex, 36 miles to the east of central London.
• The closest airport to London Southend Airport (SEN) is Rochester Airport (RCS), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) SSW of SEN.
• The airport is served by buses operated by Arriva Southend from the airport entrance to Southend, Rochford, Ashingdon, Hawkwell, Hockley, Eastwood and Rayleigh.
• In 1967 the first steps to establish an aviation museum at the airport were taken, resulting in the official opening 26 May 1972 of the Southend Historic Aircraft Museum on the western boundary of the airport.
• The airfield was established by the Royal Flying Corps during World War I.
• London Southend Airport handled 969,912 passengers last year.
• In 1946, the airfield was decommissioned from military use and civil aviation returned in 1947, as did the Southend Municipal Airport name.