Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to WKJ:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- WKJ Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about WKJ
- 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 WKJ
- List of Nearest Airports to WKJ
- Map of Furthest Airports from WKJ
- List of Furthest Airports from WKJ
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Wakkanai Airport (WKJ), Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,388 miles (or 8,670 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 Wakkanai 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 Wakkanai 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: | WKJ / RJCW |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan |
GPS Coordinates: | 45°24'15"N by 141°48'7"E |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 27 feet (8 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from WKJ |
More Information: | WKJ Maps & Info |
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
- 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.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
- RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
- 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.
Facts about Wakkanai Airport (WKJ):
- Because of Wakkanai Airport's relatively low elevation of 27 feet, planes can take off or land at Wakkanai 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.
- In addition to being known as "Wakkanai Airport", other names for WKJ include "稚内空港" and "Wakkanai Kūkō".
- Until 1989, the JNR Temboku Line passed by the airport.
- Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 11,446 miles (18,420 kilometers) away in Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom.
- The closest airport to Wakkanai Airport (WKJ) is Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE), which is located 109 miles (176 kilometers) SE of WKJ.
- In 1987, the 1,200 m main runway was extended to 1,800 m, allowing All Nippon Airways to begin jet service to Tokyo.
- Wakkanai is the northernmost airport in Japan which is capable of handling jet aircraft.