Nonstop flight route between Hiroshima, Honshū, Japan and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hiroshima Airport (HIJ), Hiroshima, Honshū, Japan and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,886 miles (or 9,472 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 Hiroshima 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 Hiroshima 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 Hiroshima Airport (HIJ):

• In addition to being known as "Hiroshima Airport", other names for HIJ include "広島空港" and "Hiroshima Kūkō".
• The closest airport to Hiroshima Airport (HIJ) is Matsuyama Airport (MYJ), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) SSW of HIJ.
• Hiroshima Airport (HIJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport has no direct expressway connection but is located near the San'yō Expressway.
• The furthest airport from Hiroshima Airport (HIJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is nearly antipodal to Hiroshima Airport (meaning Hiroshima Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rio Grande Regional Airport), and is located 12,101 miles (19,475 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• Hiroshima has one terminal with separated departures and arrivals facilities for domestic and international flights and seven lettered gates.

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.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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 was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.