Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,002 miles (or 9,659 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 Shenzhen Bao'an 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 Shenzhen Bao'an 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):

• 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 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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 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.
• 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 Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX):

• The furthest airport from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) is Bermejo Airport (BJO), which is nearly antipodal to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (meaning Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bermejo Airport), and is located 12,317 miles (19,822 kilometers) away in Bermejo, Bolivia.
• The closest airport to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) is Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) SSE of SZX.
• In addition to being known as "Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport", other names for SZX include "深圳宝安国际机场" and "Shēnzhèn Bǎo'ān Guójì Jīchǎng".
• Because of Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Shenzhen Bao'an 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.
• Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) has 2 runways.
• Building Site September 2012
• Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport handled 32,268,400 passengers last year.
• The new terminal is three times the size of terminals A and B and represents a huge upgrade of the airport's facilities and capacity.
• Shenzhen Airlines is headquartered on the grounds of the airport.Jade Cargo International was headquartered on the sixth floor of the Shenzhen Airlines Flight Operations Building on grounds of Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.Shenzhen Donghai Airlines has its head office in the Shenzhen Airlines facility on the airport property.
• C area is for flights on Sichuan, Xiamen, Hainan, Juneyao, OK, Chengdu, Spring, Hebei and Chongqing airlines.