Nonstop flight route between Heihe, Heilongjiang, China and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Heihe Airport (HEK), Heihe, Heilongjiang, China and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,794 miles (or 7,715 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 Heihe 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 Heihe 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 Heihe Airport (HEK):

• Heihe Airport (HEK) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Heihe Airport", other names for HEK include "黑河机场" and "Hēihé Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Heihe Airport (HEK) is Ignatyevo Airport (BQS), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NNE of HEK.
• The furthest airport from Heihe Airport (HEK) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is nearly antipodal to Heihe Airport (meaning Heihe Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Port Stanley Airport), and is located 12,192 miles (19,621 kilometers) away in Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom.

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.
• 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 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 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.