Nonstop flight route between Jijiga, Ethiopia and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wilwal International Airport (JIJ), Jijiga, Ethiopia and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,855 miles (or 6,205 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 Wilwal International 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 Wilwal International 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 Wilwal International Airport (JIJ):

• Wilwal International Airport (JIJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Wilwal International Airport (JIJ) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is nearly antipodal to Wilwal International Airport (meaning Wilwal International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Atuona Airport), and is located 12,302 miles (19,799 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• By the 1990s, the Garaad Wiil-Waal Airport was one of 10 bases of the Ethiopian Air Force.
• Because of Wilwal International Airport's high elevation of 5,413 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JIJ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JIJ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Wilwal International Airport (JIJ) is Borama Airport (BXX), which is located 46 miles (73 kilometers) NNE of JIJ.

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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 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.