Nonstop flight route between Istres, France and Confins (near Belo Horizonte), Minas Gerais, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE), Istres, France and Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF), Confins (near Belo Horizonte), Minas Gerais, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,350 miles (or 8,610 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 Tancredo Neves/Confins 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 Tancredo Neves/Confins 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):

• 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.
• C135FR "GRV 093 Bretagne"
• Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE) currently has only 1 runway.
• With the end of the war, the Americans used Istres as a staging point between Occupied Germany and Morocco for air transport of personnel back to the United States.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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".
• 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.

Facts about Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF):

• The main maintenance facilities of Gol Airlines are located at this airport.
• The furthest airport from Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is located 11,945 miles (19,224 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• The problems related to the distance of Confins to downtown Belo Horizonte were lessened by recent projects such as the improvement of the highway that links the city center to the airport, part of a larger project called Linha Verde, which seeks to reduce the time needed to reach the airport.
• Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport handled 10,301,288 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) is Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU), which is located only 16 miles (25 kilometers) S of CNF.
• Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport", another name for CNF is "Aeroporto Internacional Tancredo Neves/Confins".