Nonstop flight route between Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE), Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (VCP), Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,045 miles (or 9,728 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 NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component and Viracopos–Campinas 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 NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component and Viracopos–Campinas International 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 NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE):

• The E-3A Component directly employs more than 3,000 personnel at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen and therefore has a significant economic impact in the surrounding communities.
• Since coming into service in the early 1980s, the aircraft and their onboard systems and associated ground-based equipment have undergone regular upgrading.
• Surrounded by farmland and a natural woodland reserve, the base was originally built by the Royal Air Force after World War II and operated as RAF Geilenkirchen from 1953 onwards.
• Because of NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component's relatively low elevation of 296 feet, planes can take off or land at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component 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.
• Major construction on the base initially included a new 3,000-metre runway with a width of 45 metres, as well as aprons and taxiways, a control tower, an Information Technology Wing building, on-base accommodation and major renovation of the four existing hangars.
• NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) currently has only 1 runway.
• In January 1980 the first E-3A Component personnel started arriving at the base, and in October 1980 the NATO Defence Planning Committee granted the E-3A Component the status of a NATO International Military Headquarters.
• The furthest airport from NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,929 miles (19,198 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen E–3A Component (GKE) is Merzbrück Airfield (AAH), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SSE of GKE.
• The E-3A Component is NATO's first­ operational flying unit with multinational manning.

Facts about Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (VCP):

• The IATA airport code of Viracopos is VCP and the specific city code of Campinas is CPQ.
• The closest airport to Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (VCP) is Campo dos Amarais State Airport (CPQ), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) N of VCP.
• The position of international airport of São Paulo was lost in 1985 with the opening of Guarulhos International Airport and Viracopos entered into a decade of stagnation, with all international and most domestic flights transferred to Guarulhos and Congonhas.
• However, due to legal and bureaucratic issues, the planned developments never occurred.
• Viracopos–Campinas International Airport handled 8,824,074 passengers last year.
• In the 1970s Viracopos became the international airport for São Paulo, because the runway of São Paulo-Congonhas Airport was too short to accommodate intercontinental jet planes.
• The furthest airport from Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (VCP) is Minami-Daito Airport (MMD), which is nearly antipodal to Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (meaning Viracopos–Campinas International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Minami-Daito Airport), and is located 12,216 miles (19,660 kilometers) away in Minami Daito, Okinawa, Japan.
• Viracopos–Campinas International Airport (VCP) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport is located 99 km northwest of the state capital city of São Paulo and 20 km southwest of Campinas, adjacent to the Bandeirantes-Anhanguera highway complex, which connects the capital city to the interior of São Paulo state.
• In addition to being known as "Viracopos–Campinas International Airport", another name for VCP is "Aeroporto Internacional de Viracopos–Campinas".