Nonstop flight route between Ta'if, Saudi Arabia and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ta'if Regional Airport (TIF), Ta'if, Saudi Arabia and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,071 miles (or 4,943 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 Ta'if 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 Ta'if 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 Ta'if Regional Airport (TIF):

• The closest airport to Ta'if Regional Airport (TIF) is King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED), which is located 90 miles (145 kilometers) W of TIF.
• Because of Ta'if Regional Airport's high elevation of 4,848 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at TIF. Combined with a high temperature, this could make TIF a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Ta'if Regional Airport (TIF) is Tureira Airport (ZTA), which is nearly antipodal to Ta'if Regional Airport (meaning Ta'if Regional Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tureira Airport), and is located 12,361 miles (19,893 kilometers) away in Tureia, Tuamotus, French Polynesia.
• Ta'if Regional Airport (TIF) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.