Nonstop flight route between Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,522 miles (or 2,450 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 relatively short distance between George Best Belfast City Airport and Santa Maria Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD):

• Following major capital investment Bombardier sold the airport in 2003 for £35 million to the Spanish company Ferrovial, the owner of BAA Airports.
• Flexibus route 600 is the Belfast City Airlink service, from the terminal to the Belfast Europa Buscentre adjacent to the Europa Hotel and Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station.
• George Best Belfast City Airport handled 2,541,759 passengers last year.
• The airport has recently applied for a complete removal of the limit on the seats it can sell – a key element of the 1997 planning agreement, which guards against over-expansion of an airport which is sited in a densely populated location.
• The closest airport to George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) is Belfast International Airport (BFS), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) WNW of BHD.
• Passenger numbers increased by 4.5% from 2,621,763 in 2009 to 2,740,341 in 2010, the highest total on record at the airport.
• In addition to being known as "George Best Belfast City Airport", another name for BHD is "Belfast City Airport".
• George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,843 miles (19,059 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Because of George Best Belfast City Airport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at George Best Belfast City 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.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• Transportes Aéreos Portugueses began lay-over flights to this airport on 7 December 1962, eventually inaugurating trans-Atlantic service between Santa Maria-New York and Santa Maria-Montreal.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is Moruya Airport (MYA), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Moruya Airport), and is located 12,166 miles (19,579 kilometers) away in Moruya, New South Wales, Australia.
• Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 308 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria 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 "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.