Nonstop flight route between Sugawa, Fukushima, Japan and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Fukushima Airport (FKS), Sugawa, Fukushima, Japan and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,884 miles (or 9,469 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 Fukushima Airport and RAF Fairford, 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 Fukushima Airport and RAF Fairford. 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 Fukushima Airport (FKS):

• In addition to being known as "Fukushima Airport", other names for FKS include "福島空港" and "Fukushima Kūkō".
• The furthest airport from Fukushima Airport (FKS) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,639 miles (18,731 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• The airport remained operational during and following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, and temporarily saw increased domestic service during the closure of the Tōhoku Shinkansen high-speed rail line to Tokyo.
• The closest airport to Fukushima Airport (FKS) is Utsunomiya Air Field (QUT), which is located 58 miles (94 kilometers) SSW of FKS.
• Fukushima Airport (FKS) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about RAF Fairford (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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.