Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and New Plymouth, New Zealand:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to NPL:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- NPL Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about NPL
- 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 NPL
- List of Nearest Airports to NPL
- Map of Furthest Airports from NPL
- List of Furthest Airports from NPL
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and New Plymouth Airport (NPL), New Plymouth, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,540 miles (or 18,572 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 RAF Fairford and New Plymouth Airport, 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 RAF Fairford and New Plymouth Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
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: | NPL / NZNP |
Airport Name: | New Plymouth Airport |
Location: | New Plymouth, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 39°0'30"S by 174°10'45"E |
Operator/Owner: | New Plymouth District Council Government of New Zealand |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 97 feet (30 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from NPL |
More Information: | NPL Maps & Info |
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
- 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.
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
- On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
Facts about New Plymouth Airport (NPL):
- The closest airport to New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Wanganui Airport (WAG), which is located 80 miles (129 kilometers) SE of NPL.
- New Plymouth Airport (NPL) has 3 runways.
- New Plymouth Airport handled 332,178 passengers last year.
- Because of New Plymouth Airport's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at New Plymouth 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.
- By the end of 2012 the larger ATR 72 aircraft will provide a service to Auckland due to the demands of passenger numbers.
- The furthest airport from New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Badajoz Airport (BJZ), which is nearly antipodal to New Plymouth Airport (meaning New Plymouth Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Badajoz Airport), and is located 12,382 miles (19,928 kilometers) away in Badajoz, Spain.
- Origin Pacific Airways used to operate Jetstream J31 and Metroliner aircraft to/from Auckland and to/from Nelson 6x weekly.
- The airport's only sealed taxiway connects the apron and the asphalt runway, so aircraft taxi on the runway, and commence take off roll from runway ends.