Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sharjah International Airport (SHJ), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,477 miles (or 5,596 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 Sharjah 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 Sharjah 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):

• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Sharjah International Airport (SHJ):

• The furthest airport from Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is located 11,763 miles (18,931 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• In addition to being known as "Sharjah International Airport", another name for SHJ is "مطار الشارقة الدولي".
• Sharjah Airport is the second largest Middle East airfreight hub in cargo tonnage, according to official 2009 statistics from Airports Council International.
• The closest airport to Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) is Dubai International Airport (DXB), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) WSW of SHJ.
• Because of Sharjah International Airport's relatively low elevation of 116 feet, planes can take off or land at Sharjah 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.
• Sharjah International Airport handled 7,516,538 passengers last year.
• Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The number of passengers passing through Sharjah International Airport has drastically increased in the past decade.