Nonstop flight route between Joroinen, Finland and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Varkaus Airport (VRK), Joroinen, Finland and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,315 miles (or 2,116 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 Varkaus 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 Varkaus Airport (VRK):

• Varkaus Airport (VRK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Varkaus Airport's relatively low elevation of 286 feet, planes can take off or land at Varkaus 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.
• Varkaus Airport handled 8,057 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Varkaus Airport", another name for VRK is "Varkauden lentoasema".
• The furthest airport from Varkaus Airport (VRK) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,834 miles (17,436 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Varkaus Airport (VRK) is Mikkeli Airport (MIK), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) SSW of VRK.

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.