Nonstop flight route between Nelson, New Zealand and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN), Nelson, New Zealand and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,682 miles (or 18,800 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 Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū 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 Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū 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 Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN):

• Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) has 4 runways.
• Because of Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• Nelson airport is the home base of Air Nelson operating under the Air NZ Link banner, which operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s on national air routes.
• The closest airport to Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) is Motueka Aerodrome (MZP), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) NW of NSN.
• On 17 September 2013, the idea for a potential Auckland, Nelson and Queenstown air link was raised with Air New Zealand's chief executive.
• Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū handled 776,448 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (NSN) is Bragança Airport (BGC), which is nearly antipodal to Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū (meaning Nelson AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Whakatū is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bragança Airport), and is located 12,398 miles (19,953 kilometers) away in Bragança, Portugal.

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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• 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.