Nonstop flight route between Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, United States and Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from BIF to SPN:
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- About this route
- BIF Airport Information
- SPN Airport Information
- Facts about BIF
- Facts about SPN
- Map of Nearest Airports to BIF
- List of Nearest Airports to BIF
- Map of Furthest Airports from BIF
- List of Furthest Airports from BIF
- Map of Nearest Airports to SPN
- List of Nearest Airports to SPN
- Map of Furthest Airports from SPN
- List of Furthest Airports from SPN
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Biggs Army Airfield (BIF), Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, United States and Saipan International Airport (SPN), Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,672 miles (or 10,737 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 Biggs Army Airfield and Saipan 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 Biggs Army Airfield and Saipan International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | BIF / KBIF |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 31°50'57"N by 106°22'47"W |
| Operator/Owner: | U.S. Army ATCA-ASO |
| Airport Type: | Military |
| Elevation: | 3946 feet (1,203 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from BIF |
| More Information: | BIF Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | SPN / PGSN |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands |
| GPS Coordinates: | 15°7'8"N by 145°43'45"E |
| Operator/Owner: | Commonwealth Ports Authority |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 215 feet (66 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from SPN |
| More Information: | SPN Maps & Info |
Facts about Biggs Army Airfield (BIF):
- With the activation of TAC, the new command assigned Headquarters, Ninth Air Force to Biggs on 28 March upon its return from Germany.
- With World War II imminent, a massive construction effort was begun at Biggs Army Airfield between 1942–1945.
- The closest airport to Biggs Army Airfield (BIF) is El Paso International Airport (ELP), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) S of BIF.
- Beginning in 1950, the 97th Bomb Wing received its first B-50 Superfortress, an improved version of the B-29 capable of delivering atomic weapons.
- Biggs Army Airfield (BIF) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Biggs Army Airfield (BIF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,387 miles (18,325 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Biggs Army Airfield, Biggs AAF, Biggs Field, or simply "Biggs" is a military airport located at Fort Bliss in El Paso, El Paso County, Texas, in the United States.
- With the arrival of the 95th Bomb Wing in June 1952, the host unit at Biggs was changed to the SAC 810th Air Division, which operationally controlled both the 97th and 95th Bombardment Wings.
- In addition to being known as "Biggs Army Airfield", another name for BIF is "Biggs Air Force BaseBiggs Field".
Facts about Saipan International Airport (SPN):
- The IJNAS assigned two squadrons of Mitsubishi A6M5a-52 Zeros to the airfield in mid-June 1944.
- Saipan International Airport (SPN) currently has only 1 runway.
- Japanese tourists began visiting Saipan in large numbers during the 1970s.
- SPN was a sugarcane field before the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service constructed a temporary landing field on the site in 1933.
- In addition to being known as "Saipan International Airport", other names for SPN include "Francisco C. Ada Airport" and "GSN".
- The furthest airport from Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho) (SSA), which is nearly antipodal to Saipan International Airport (meaning Saipan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho)), and is located 12,125 miles (19,514 kilometers) away in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
- A Star Marianas plane crashed during takeoff on November 17, 2012 on its return from Tinian.
- The closest airport to Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Tinian International Airport (TIQ), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SW of SPN.
- With the end of the war the wing's four bomb groups were all returned to the United States, with their B-29s either being flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for scrapping, or were flown to storage facilities in Texas or Arizona.
- Because of Saipan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 215 feet, planes can take off or land at Saipan International 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.
