Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Resolute, Nunavut, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Resolute Bay Airport (YRB), Resolute, Nunavut, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,874 miles (or 4,626 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 Resolute Bay 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 Resolute Bay Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

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 constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about Resolute Bay Airport (YRB):

• Because of Resolute Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 222 feet, planes can take off or land at Resolute Bay 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.
• On August 20, 2011, First Air Flight 6560, a Boeing 737-200 charter flight transporting fifteen people from Yellowknife, crashed near the airport.
• The furthest airport from Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 9,598 miles (15,446 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.
• Historically, the airport was served by several airlines operating direct, no-change-of-plane scheduled passenger jet service to such Canadian cities as Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Yellowknife.
• The site would be able to provide logistics for search-and-rescue operations according to a briefing from the Arctic Management Office at 1 Canadian Air Division.
• Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) currently has only 1 runway.
• Resolute, located above the Arctic Circle, is the northernmost destination in Canada to receive scheduled passenger air service.
• The closest airport to Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) is Arctic Bay Airport (YAB), which is located 224 miles (360 kilometers) ESE of YRB.