Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Orlando/Sanford International Airport (SFB), Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,249 miles (or 6,838 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 Orlando/Sanford International 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 Orlando/Sanford International 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Orlando/Sanford International Airport (SFB):

• Orlando/Sanford International Airport (SFB) has 4 runways.
• The furthest airport from Orlando/Sanford International Airport (SFB) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,507 miles (18,518 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• In 2010 Allegiant Air announced it was moving many flights to larger and more centrally located Orlando International Airport to compete with AirTran Airways.
• The airport is home to Aerosim Flight Academy, formerly Delta Connection Academy, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, which provides ab initio flight training for prospective regional airline and international pilots.
• Because of Orlando/Sanford International Airport's relatively low elevation of 55 feet, planes can take off or land at Orlando/Sanford 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.
• Orlando-Sanford International Airport started life as Naval Air Station Sanford with the airport codes NRJ and KNRJ.
• The closest airport to Orlando/Sanford International Airport (SFB) is Orlando Executive Airport (ORL), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) SSW of SFB.
• Orlando-Sanford International Airport is in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando.