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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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 London Southend Airport (SEN):

• Southend Airport has a Civil Aviation Authority Ordinary Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee.
• The closest airport to London Southend Airport (SEN) is Rochester Airport (RCS), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) SSW of SEN.
• The former terminal now houses facilities for business passengers flying executive aircraft, with lounges and conference rooms, plus flight briefing facilities for pilots and a security checkpoint.
• London Southend Airport handled 969,912 passengers last year.
• Aircraft ground handling at the airport is provided by the airport-owned Southend Handling, who also assist companies, groups or individuals in chartering aircraft to or from the airport.
• 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.
• Regionair was a small commuter airline based at Southend in the late 1980s and early 1990s that provided services to Rotterdam and Paris using Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante and Jetstream 31 aircraft.
• London Southend Airport (SEN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport was officially opened as a municipal airport on 18 September 1935 by the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, who arrived in his de Havilland Leopard Moth.
• 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.
• In 1946, the airfield was decommissioned from military use and civil aviation returned in 1947, as did the Southend Municipal Airport name.