Nonstop flight route between Handan, Hebei, China and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Handan Airport (HDG), Handan, Hebei, China and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,231 miles (or 8,419 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 Handan 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 Handan 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 Handan Airport (HDG):

• The closest airport to Handan Airport (HDG) is Xingtai Dalian Airport (XNT), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) N of HDG.
• The furthest airport from Handan Airport (HDG) is Santa Rosa Airport (RSA), which is nearly antipodal to Handan Airport (meaning Handan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Rosa Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Santa Rosa, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Handan Airport", other names for HDG include "邯郸机场" and "Hándān Jīchǎng".

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.