Nonstop flight route between Istres, France and Wuhan, Hubei, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (QIE), Istres, France and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH), Wuhan, Hubei, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,635 miles (or 9,068 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 Wuhan Tianhe 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 Wuhan Tianhe 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH):

• The future Wuhan–Xiaogan Intercity Railway, one of the lines of the Wuhan Metropolitan Area Intercity Railway, will serve Wuhan Tianhe Airport.
• Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport's relatively low elevation of 112 feet, planes can take off or land at Wuhan Tianhe International 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.
• In addition to being known as "Wuhan Tianhe International Airport", other names for WUH include "武汉天河国际机场" and "Wǔhàn Tiānhé Guójì Jīchǎng".
• A Xinhua Airline plane in front of the then Terminal 2
• The closest airport to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH) is Shashi Airport (SHS), which is located 119 miles (192 kilometers) WSW of WUH.
• The furthest airport from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH) is La Cumbre Airport (LCM), which is nearly antipodal to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (meaning Wuhan Tianhe International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from La Cumbre Airport), and is located 12,361 miles (19,892 kilometers) away in La Cumbre, Córdoba, Argentina.
• Recent developments included the construction of a second terminal, a planned second runway in order to better serve the increasing passengers as well as to accommodate the Airbus 380 jumbo jet.
• Wuhan Tianhe International Airport handled 11,646,789 passengers last year.