Nonstop flight route between Montrose, Colorado, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,786 miles (or 7,703 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 Montrose 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 Montrose 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 Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ):

• Montrose Regional Airport was dedicated June 25, 1988, with Chuck Yeager cutting the ribbon.
• The closest airport to Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) S of MTJ.
• The furthest airport from Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,040 miles (17,766 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) has 2 runways.
• Because of Montrose Regional Airport's high elevation of 5,759 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MTJ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MTJ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.