Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and San José, Costa Rica:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ), San José, Costa Rica would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,353 miles (or 8,614 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 Tobías Bolaños 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 Tobías Bolaños 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 is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

Facts about Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ):

• In addition to being known as "Tobías Bolaños International Airport", another name for SYQ is "Aeropuerto Internacional Tobías Bolaños".
• The furthest airport from Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Tobías Bolaños International Airport (meaning Tobías Bolaños International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,269 miles (19,745 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ) is Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO), which is located only 5 miles (9 kilometers) WNW of SYQ.