Nonstop flight route between Alton, Illinois, United States and Santiago, Chile:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN), Alton, Illinois, United States and Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL), Santiago, Chile would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,145 miles (or 8,279 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 St. Louis Regional Airport and Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International 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 St. Louis Regional Airport and Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International 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 St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN):

• The closest airport to St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) is Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) WSW of ALN.
• The 2,250 acres airfield sits at 544 ft MSL.
• St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) has 2 runways.
• West Star Aviation is the largest fixed base operations company at the airport.
• Because of St. Louis Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 544 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Louis Regional 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.
• Today a fair amount of air traffic and the Direct TV blimp comes for Cardinals playoffs, as Lambert's airport cannot take the blimp.
• Its operations are paid for by an airport taxation district created in 1946, which collects taxes from property owners in the Madison County townships of Alton, Wood River, Foster and Fort Russell.
• The furthest airport from St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,002 miles (17,706 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.

Facts about Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL):

• Souvenirs, jewelry, Chilean handcrafts and wine shops, music and accessories among others, are available in more than 70 stores from well-known international and national brands.
• Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) has 2 runways.
• In June 2013, the Chilean Ministry of Public Works started Phase 1 of the airport expansion, to be completed in 2014.
• The demands of the growing metropolitan area of Santiago and the need for modern, jet-era airport facilities, which could safely accommodate both domestic and intercontinental flights, drove the need to relocate the Chilean capital's principal airport from Los Cerrillos Airport in the denser southwest metropolitan region of Santiago to the more rural northwest metropolitan area.
• In 2000, Lan Chile joined OneWorld, making of Arturo Merino Benitez Airport a main hub for the alliance, its first one in Latin America and its second in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The closest airport to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is located 50 miles (81 kilometers) NW of SCL.
• In 2008, the airport terminal reached its maximum design capacity of 9.5 million annual passengers, 2 years earlier than forecast.
• In addition to being known as "Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport", other names for SCL include "Pudahuel Airport" and "Santiago International Airport".
• The furthest airport from Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) is Ankang Wulipu Airport (AKA), which is nearly antipodal to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (meaning Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ankang Wulipu Airport), and is located 12,387 miles (19,934 kilometers) away in Ankang, Shaanxi, China.