Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Yanbu (Yenbo), Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Yanbu International Airport (YNB), Yanbu (Yenbo), Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,829 miles (or 4,554 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 Yanbu 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 Yanbu 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):

• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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 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 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about Yanbu International Airport (YNB):

• The closest airport to Yanbu International Airport (YNB) is Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport (MED), which is located 107 miles (172 kilometers) ENE of YNB.
• The airport was upgraded in late 2009 to enable it to operate international flights with newly expanded arrival and departure lounges.
• The ground floor features a shopping area as well as a cafe offering a variety of hot and cold sandwiches, pastries, ice-cream, and other desserts.
• The furthest airport from Yanbu International Airport (YNB) is Tureira Airport (ZTA), which is nearly antipodal to Yanbu International Airport (meaning Yanbu International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tureira Airport), and is located 12,120 miles (19,504 kilometers) away in Tureia, Tuamotus, French Polynesia.
• Yanbu International Airport (YNB) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Yanbu International Airport", another name for YNB is "Prince Abdul Mohsin bin Abdulaziz Airport".
• Because of Yanbu International Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Yanbu 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.