Nonstop flight route between Grand Junction, Colorado, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT), Grand Junction, Colorado, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,775 miles (or 7,685 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 Grand Junction Regional 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 Grand Junction Regional 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 Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT):

• The closest airport to Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT) is Garfield County Regional Airport (RIL), which is located 51 miles (82 kilometers) ENE of GJT.
• The airport covers 2,357 acres at an elevation of 4,858 feet.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Junction Regional Airport", another name for GJT is "Walker Field".
• The furthest airport from Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,014 miles (17,726 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT) has 2 runways.
• Because of Grand Junction Regional Airport's high elevation of 4,858 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GJT. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GJT a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The only mainline jets at Grand Junction now are Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-80s several days a week nonstop to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
• The airport opened in 1930 as Grand Junction Municipal Airport.

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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.