Nonstop flight route between Tours, France and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF), Tours, France and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 314 miles (or 506 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 relatively short distance between Tours Val de Loire Airport and RAF Fairford, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF):

• Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Tours Val de Loire Airport's relatively low elevation of 357 feet, planes can take off or land at Tours Val de Loire Airport 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.
• The airport once housed the head office of TAT European Airlines.
• The furthest airport from Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Tours Val de Loire Airport (meaning Tours Val de Loire Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,152 miles (19,557 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF) is Angers – Loire Airport (ANE), which is located 49 miles (79 kilometers) W of TUF.
• The airport is home to around 40 Alpha Jets belonging to the French Air Force, as well as a couple of Mirage fighters as part of the Vigipirate defence plan.
• The airport resides at an elevation of 357 feet above mean sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Tours Val de Loire Airport", another name for TUF is "Aéroport Tours Val de LoireBase Aérienne 604Tours Val de Loire".

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.