Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Surat, Gujarat, India:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Surat Airport (STV), Surat, Gujarat, India would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,428 miles (or 7,127 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 Surat 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 Surat 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 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about Surat Airport (STV):

• In addition to being known as "Surat Airport", another name for STV is "સુરત એરપોર્ટ".
• Because of Surat Airport's relatively low elevation of 16 feet, planes can take off or land at Surat 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.
• Until 2007, Surat was the only city in the world with a population of over 4.6 million people without a functioning airport.
• The closest airport to Surat Airport (STV) is Daman Airport (NMB), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) S of STV.
• Surat airport's new terminal building is capable of handling 240 passengers per hour.
• The furthest airport from Surat Airport (STV) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,997 miles (19,308 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.