Nonstop flight route between Cahokia, Illinois (near St. Louis), United States and Bilbao, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), Cahokia, Illinois (near St. Louis), United States and Bilbao Airport (BIO), Bilbao, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,349 miles (or 6,998 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 Downtown Airport and Bilbao 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 Downtown Airport and Bilbao 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 Downtown Airport (CPS):

• The furthest airport from St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,998 miles (17,700 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS) has 3 runways.
• The airport opened in 1929 as Curtiss-Steinberg Airport.
• Because of St. Louis Downtown Airport's relatively low elevation of 413 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Louis Downtown 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.
• The closest airport to St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS) is Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), which is located only 16 miles (27 kilometers) NW of CPS.

Facts about Bilbao Airport (BIO):

• Bilbao Airport handled 3,800,789 passengers last year.
• Users of the airport widely complained about its lack of an arrivals area, since once passengers cleared customs, they stepped directly outside, and there they were often exposed to the elements.
• The furthest airport from Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is nearly antipodal to Bilbao Airport (meaning Bilbao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hood Aerodrome), and is located 12,260 miles (19,730 kilometers) away in Masterton, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Vitoria-Gasteiz Airport (VIT), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) SSE of BIO.
• Because of Bilbao Airport's relatively low elevation of 137 feet, planes can take off or land at Bilbao 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.
• There has been some criticism of Santiago Calatrava's design by Aena, the Spanish airport authority, because it seems difficult to make further enlargements in the terminal's capacity because the design is too closed.
• During the eighties, the ILS landing system entered into service for runway 10/28.
• Bilbao Airport (BIO) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Bilbao Airport", another name for BIO is "Bilboko aireportua (eu) Aeropuerto de Bilbao (es)".