Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Taoyuan County (near Taipei), Taiwan, Republic of China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), Taoyuan County (near Taipei), Taiwan, Republic of China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,113 miles (or 9,838 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 Taiwan Taoyuan 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 Taiwan Taoyuan 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):

• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.

Facts about Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE):

• Because of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 108 feet, planes can take off or land at Taiwan Taoyuan 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.
• The furthest airport from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) is Clorinda Airport (CLX), which is nearly antipodal to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (meaning Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Clorinda Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Clorinda, Formosa, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) is Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) E of TPE.
• There are 41 frontal stands at the main passenger concourse, 15 remote stands and 25 cargo stands.
• The Southern and Northern Concourses are also known as Concourse C and Concourse D, respectively.
• The Executive Yuan of then-President Chen Shui-bian's administration officially approved the name Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for the hub on September 6, 2006.
• Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport recently finished developing the airports business travel center in late 2011.
• Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport", other names for TPE include "臺灣桃園國際機場桃園機場" and "Táiwān Táoyuán Gúojì JīchǎngTáoyuán Jīchǎng".