Nonstop flight route between Big Spring, Texas, United States and Milano, Italy:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS), Big Spring, Texas, United States and Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), Milano, Italy would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,516 miles (or 8,878 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Milan Malpensa 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Milan Malpensa 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS):

• The furthest airport from Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,166 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles.
• The airfield was activated as Big Spring Air Force Base on 1 October 1951 by the United States Air Force Air Training Command and established the 3560th Pilot Training Wing.
• Construction of the Army Air Forces Bombardier School began on 15 May 1942, and the airfield received its first class of cadets on 16 September 1942.
• By the mid-1970s, the end of the Vietnam War, the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in USAF force structure and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots.
• In 1968, ATC established a single phase-pilot training squadron concept at Webb.
• The closest airport to Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Midland Airpark (MDD), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) WSW of BGS.
• The airfield and flight line was converted to an uncontrolled/UNICOM-only general aviation airport renamed Big Spring McMahon-Wrinkle Airport, serving the City of Big Spring.

Facts about Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP):

• In addition to being known as "Milan Malpensa Airport", another name for MXP is "Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa "Città di Milano"".
• The furthest airport from Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Milan Malpensa Airport (meaning Milan Malpensa Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,153 miles (19,559 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Malpensa Shuttle and Malpensa Bus Express connect the airport to Milan Central Station and the metro.
• Malpensa Airport is connected by a four-lane highway to the A8 motorway and by a five-lane highway to the A4 motorway linking Milan to Turin and to the Strada Statale 11.
• Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) has 2 runways.
• A free shuttle bus links Terminal 1 & 2 every 7 minutes 24 hours a day, within the airport.
• Ground handling services have been slowly deregulated and have seen SEA create SEA Handling and the arrival of private handler ATA Handling.
• Malpensa Airport official opening to commercial traffic took place on 21 November 1948 as "Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio", although Belgian national flag carrier Sabena had started flying to Brussels from here a year earlier.
• Terminal 2 is currently used by EasyJet only.
• In 2008 Lufthansa announced plans to create its first hub outside Germany and its fourth European hub at Milan Malpensa airport.
• Milan Malpensa Airport handled 18,537,301 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is Lugano Airport (LUG), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NNE of MXP.