Nonstop flight route between Galveston, Texas, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Scholes International Airport at Galveston (GLS), Galveston, Texas, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,784 miles (or 7,698 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 Scholes International Airport at Galveston 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 Scholes International Airport at Galveston 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 Scholes International Airport at Galveston (GLS):

• Because of Scholes International Airport at Galveston's relatively low elevation of 6 feet, planes can take off or land at Scholes International Airport at Galveston 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 Scholes International Airport at Galveston (GLS) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,038 miles (17,764 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Scholes International Airport at Galveston (GLS) has 2 runways.
• Scholes International Airport at Galveston is a city owned, public use airport located three nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Galveston, a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States.
• Scholes International Airport covers an area of 966 acres at an elevation of 6 feet above mean sea level.
• The closest airport to Scholes International Airport at Galveston (GLS) is Ellington Field Joint Reserve BaseEllington Air Force BaseEllington Field (EFD), which is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) NW of GLS.
• In addition to being known as "Scholes International Airport at Galveston", another name for GLS is "(former Galveston Army Air Field)".

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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle 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 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.