Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tauranga, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tauranga Airport (TRG), Tauranga, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,464 miles (or 18,449 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 Tauranga 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 Tauranga 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Tauranga Airport (TRG):

• Because of Tauranga Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Tauranga 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 Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Granada Airport (GRX), which is nearly antipodal to Tauranga Airport (meaning Tauranga Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Granada Airport), and is located 12,403 miles (19,961 kilometers) away in Granada, Spain.
• The closest airport to Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Matamata Airport (MTA), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) W of TRG.
• Tauranga Airport (TRG) has 4 runways.
• In 2006 a study into the feasibility of a new airport at Paengaroa or Payes Pa was produced, but Tauranga Airport is yet to reach full operational capacity.
• A number of small charter and training operations are also based here along with maintenance providers, Tauranga Aero Club and Bayflight Aviation.
• In 2010 the airport started an expansion of the terminal that took 6 months.