Nonstop flight route between Hobbs, New Mexico, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lea County Regional Airport (HOB), Hobbs, New Mexico, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,928 miles (or 7,930 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 Lea County 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 Lea County 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 Lea County Regional Airport (HOB):

• The closest airport to Lea County Regional Airport (HOB) is Winkler County Airport (INK), which is located 63 miles (101 kilometers) S of HOB.
• Lea County Regional Airport is four miles west of Hobbs, in Lea County, New Mexico.
• Continental Airlines was replaced by Trans-Texas Airlines in 1963.
• Lea County Regional Airport (HOB) has 3 runways.
• Lea County Regional Airport was originally the Me-Tex Airport and opened as a commercial airport on July 23, 1937.
• The furthest airport from Lea County Regional Airport (HOB) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,218 miles (18,054 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.