Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to CHT:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- CHT Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about CHT
- 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 CHT
- List of Nearest Airports to CHT
- Map of Furthest Airports from CHT
- List of Furthest Airports from CHT
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Chatham Islands (CHT), Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,840 miles (or 19,054 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 Chatham Islands, 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 Chatham Islands. 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: | CHT / NZCI |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 43°48'36"S by 176°27'25"W |
Operator/Owner: | New Zealand Government |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 43 feet (13 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from CHT |
More Information: | CHT 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
- 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.
Facts about Chatham Islands (CHT):
- In addition to being known as "Chatham Islands", another name for CHT is "Tuuta Airport".
- The closest airport to Chatham Islands (CHT) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is located 448 miles (722 kilometers) WNW of CHT.
- Chatham Islands (CHT) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Chatham Islands (CHT) is Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport (MPL), which is nearly antipodal to Chatham Islands (meaning Chatham Islands is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport), and is located 12,410 miles (19,972 kilometers) away in Montpellier, France.
- Because of Chatham Islands's relatively low elevation of 43 feet, planes can take off or land at Chatham Islands 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.
- The airport is the base of Air Chathams and usually houses two aircraft overnight.
- A small aviation museum is also based there, signifying the importance that aviation has played in developing the economic wealth of the island group.