Nonstop flight route between Istres, France and Chongqing, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE), Istres, France and Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG), Chongqing, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,366 miles (or 8,635 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 Istres-Le Tubé Air Base and Chongqing Jiangbei 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 Istres-Le Tubé Air Base and Chongqing Jiangbei 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 Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE):

• Secondary users occasionally include the United States Air Force, during Allied operations engaging United States and France.
• 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.
• 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.
• Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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".
• 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.

Facts about Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG):

• Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport handled 25,272,039 passengers last year.
• Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is an airport located in the Yubei District of Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
• Chongqing Metro Line 3 runs from Terminal 2 via city center to its final stop, Yudong Station, covering a distance of 60 kilometers in total.
• Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) has 4 runways.
• The phase three construction, which included a second runway and another expansion of Terminal 2, started in 2007.
• Back in the late 1990s, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport was very small, and had only two international flights per week.
• The closest airport to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) is Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO), which is located 80 miles (128 kilometers) NNW of CKG.
• The furthest airport from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is nearly antipodal to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (meaning Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from La Florida Airport), and is located 12,307 miles (19,806 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• In 2004, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport became one of the largest in Western China due to an expansion to Terminal 2 which opened and was originally expected to be able to handle as many as 10 million passengers by 2010.
• In addition to being known as "Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport", other names for CKG include "重庆江北国际机场" and "Chóngqìng Jiāngběi Guójì Jīchǎng".