Nonstop flight route between Brussels, Belgium and Istres, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Brussels Airport (BRU), Brussels, Belgium and Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE), Istres, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 510 miles (or 821 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 relatively short distance between Brussels Airport and Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Brussels Airport (BRU):

• In addition to being known as "Brussels Airport", another name for BRU is "Luchthaven Brussel-Nationaal (Dutch)Aéroport de Bruxelles-National (French)".
• Brussels Airport (BRU) has 3 runways.
• Furthermore, the airport provides meeting facilities and has the ability to host congresses up to 600 participants.
• The furthest airport from Brussels Airport (BRU) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,945 miles (19,223 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• After the liberation, the German infrastructure at Melsbroek fell into the hands of the British.
• Because of Brussels Airport's relatively low elevation of 184 feet, planes can take off or land at Brussels 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.
• Pier A West is a planned expansion of Pier A, and is meant to relieve Pier B by also handling flights from non-Schengen countries.
• In March 2009, the old mechanical Flight information display system were replaced by electronic ones.
• The closest airport to Brussels Airport (BRU) is Antwerp International Airport (ANR), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) N of BRU.
• Brussels Airport handled 19,133,222 passengers last year.

Facts about Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE):

• The main USAAF use of Istres was by the 64th Troop Carrier Group, which operated C-47 Skytrain transports from the airfield from September to November 1944.
• Because of Istres-Le Tubé Air Base's relatively low elevation of 162 feet, planes can take off or land at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base 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 furthest airport from Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (meaning Istres-Le Tubé Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,364 miles (19,898 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Istres-Le Tubé Air Base", another name for QIE is "Base aérienne 125 Istres (BA 125)Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Y-17".
• Sometime after World War II, until May 1958 Base Aérienne 125 was host to the Royal Air Force Liaison Party, that serviced transient British and Commonwealth military aircraft staging to and from the United Kingdom.
• Built prior to World War II, Istres Air Base was first used by the Armée de l'air during the early part of the war, and after the 1940 Battle of France and the June Armistice with Nazi Germany, became part of the limited air force of the Vichy Government.
• On 31 March 1992, a Boeing 707 of Kabo Air, a Nigerian company, made an emergency landing at Istres after engines 3 and 4 had separated from the wing in turbulence at 35,000 feet.
• The closest airport to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE) is Marseille Provence Airport (MRS), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) ESE of QIE.
• Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE) currently has only 1 runway.