Nonstop flight route between Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Biggs Army Airfield (BIF), Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,635 miles (or 9,069 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 Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Biggs Army Airfield (BIF):

• 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.
• Enough construction was completed by the late summer of 1942, to allow the 303d Bombardment Group to began training with B-17Fs under Second Air Force on 7 August.
• Biggs Army Airfield (BIF) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 27 September 1947, Biggs Army Airfield became Biggs Air Force Base with the establishment of the United States Air Force, replacing the Army Air Forces.
• The 97th experienced two mission changes in 1955.
• 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.
• With the inactivation of the 362d, its personnel and aircraft were assigned to the newly reactivated 20th Fighter Group.
• In August 1953, the first B-36D arrived at Biggs, although the majority of aircraft received were the later-model B-36J-III models with a higher operational ceiling, strengthened landing gear, increased fuel capacity, armament reduced to tail guns only and reduced crew.
• The 97th operated B-29s from Biggs, and participated in numerous exercises, operational readiness inspections, and overseas deployments.
• In addition to being known as "Biggs Army Airfield", another name for BIF is "Biggs Air Force BaseBiggs Field".

Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):

• In 2003, Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground train to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal.
• The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
• Rega, the air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport.
• The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.
• The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
• The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which provide access to the airport especially for the central and eastern Switzerland.
• Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
• Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.