Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Taipei City, Taiwan, Republic of China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA), Taipei City, Taiwan, Republic of China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,124 miles (or 9,856 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 Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan 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 Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan 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):

• 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 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.

Facts about Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA):

• Service to Taichung and Chiayi was stopped in mid-2007 after the load factor dropped significantly due to Taiwan High Speed Rail start of revenue service in January 2007.
• The Songshan Airport closing proposal was deferred under the Taipei City Government which has long been dominated by the Pan-Blue Coalition, who prefers the downtown airport connection concept with Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo.
• Because of Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport)'s relatively low elevation of 18 feet, planes can take off or land at Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan 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 Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA) is Clorinda Airport (CLX), which is nearly antipodal to Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (meaning Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Clorinda Airport), and is located 12,389 miles (19,939 kilometers) away in Clorinda, Formosa, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA) is Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) W of TSA.
• In addition to being known as "Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport)", other names for TSA include "台北國際航空站台北松山機場" and "Táiběi Guójì HángkōngzhànTáiběi Sōngshān Jīchǎng".
• Regular cross-strait charter flights to mainland China started on 4 July 2008, with Songshan receiving the majority of flights.
• The continuing growth of Taipei City means that Songshan airport is nowadays situated in the heart of downtown.
• Taipei International Airport (Taipei Songshan Airport) (TSA) currently has only 1 runway.