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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grant County Airport (SVC), Silver City, New Mexico, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,111 miles (or 8,226 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 Grant County 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 Grant County 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 Grant County Airport (SVC):

• Grant County Airport covers an area of 740 acres at an elevation of 5,446 feet above mean sea level.
• Because of Grant County Airport's high elevation of 5,446 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at SVC. Combined with a high temperature, this could make SVC a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Grant County Airport (SVC) has 4 runways.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 2,607 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 1,860 enplanements in 2009, and 1,501 in 2010.
• The closest airport to Grant County Airport (SVC) is Deming Municipal AirportDeming Army Airfield (DMN), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) SE of SVC.
• The furthest airport from Grant County Airport (SVC) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,404 miles (18,353 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.