Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and London, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to LGW:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- LGW Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about LGW
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to LGW
- List of Nearest Airports to LGW
- Map of Furthest Airports from LGW
- List of Furthest Airports from LGW
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gatwick Airport (LGW), London, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 78 miles (or 126 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 RAF Fairford and Gatwick Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | LGW / EGKK |
Airport Name: | Gatwick Airport |
Location: | London, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°8'53"N by 0°11'25"W |
Area Served: | London, United Kingdom |
Operator/Owner: | Global Infrastructure Partners |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 203 feet (62 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from LGW |
More Information: | LGW Maps & Info |
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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
Facts about Gatwick Airport (LGW):
- The first scheduled flight departed from the Beehive terminal on 17 May 1936, bound for Paris.
- The closest airport to Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Redhill Aerodrome (KRH), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NNE of LGW.
- In November 1972, Laker Airways became the first operator of wide-body aircraft at Gatwick after the introduction of two McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-10 aircraft.
- Gatwick Airport handled 35,444,206 passengers last year.
- The furthest airport from Gatwick Airport (LGW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,901 miles (19,152 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- Although the airport was officially decommissioned in 1946, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation continued operating it as a civil airfield.
- Because of Gatwick Airport's relatively low elevation of 203 feet, planes can take off or land at Gatwick 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.
- A second 875-foot extension of Gatwick's runway was completed in 1970, bringing it to 9,075 ft and permitting non-stop jet flights to the US east coast with a full payload and full range and payload operations by British United Airways and Caledonian Airways BAC One-Eleven 500s.BEA Airtours made Gatwick their base.
- On 1 April 1961, BEA began operating half its London–Paris flights from Gatwick.
- Gatwick Airport (LGW) has 2 runways.