Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jieyang / Shantou / Chaozhou, Guangdong, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA), Jieyang / Shantou / Chaozhou, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,044 miles (or 9,727 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 Jieyang Chaoshan 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 Jieyang Chaoshan 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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 Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA):

• The airport covers an area of 55,000 square metres and 12 jetways with the passenger terminal divided into two, with the domestic terminal on one side and the international on the other.
• In addition to being known as "Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport", other names for SWA include "揭阳潮汕机场" and "Jiēyáng Cháoshàn Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA) is Orán Airport (ORA), which is nearly antipodal to Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (meaning Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Orán Airport), and is located 12,377 miles (19,919 kilometers) away in Orán, Salta Province, Argentina.
• Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport handled 2,686,007 passengers last year.
• Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport is an airport serving the cities of Jieyang, Shantou, Chaozhou and nearby areas in eastern Guangdong Province, China.
• The city of Shantou was formerly served by Shantou Waisha Airport, a dual-use military and civil airport.
• Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA) is Meixian Airport (MXZ), which is located 60 miles (96 kilometers) NNW of SWA.