Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Yibin, Sichuan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Yibin Caiba Airport (YBP), Yibin, Sichuan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,319 miles (or 8,561 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 Yibin Caiba 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 Yibin Caiba 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.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.

Facts about Yibin Caiba Airport (YBP):

• The furthest airport from Yibin Caiba Airport (YBP) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is nearly antipodal to Yibin Caiba Airport (meaning Yibin Caiba Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from La Florida Airport), and is located 12,169 miles (19,584 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• Yibin Caiba Airport handled 326,000 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Yibin Caiba Airport", other names for YBP include "宜宾菜坝机场" and "Yibīn Càibà Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Yibin Caiba Airport (YBP) is Luzhou Lantian Airport (LZO), which is located 51 miles (83 kilometers) E of YBP.