Nonstop flight route between San Francisco, California, United States and Shanghai, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, California, United States and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA), Shanghai, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,155 miles (or 9,905 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 San Francisco International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao 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 San Francisco International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao 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 San Francisco International Airport (SFO):

• The airport opened on May 7, 1927, on 150 acres of cow pasture.
• San Francisco International Airport handled 44,477,209 passengers last year.
• SFO's international terminal was designed by Craig W.
• The closest airport to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is Half Moon Bay AirportHalf Moon Bay Flight Strip (HAF), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) SW of SFO.
• Because of San Francisco International Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at San Francisco 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.
• On July 14, 2008, SFO was voted Best International Airport in North America for 2008 in the World Airports Survey by Skytrax.
• San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has 4 runways.
• The furthest airport from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• A long-planned extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to the airport opened on June 22, 2003, allowing passengers to board BART trains at the international terminal to San Francisco or the East Bay.
• Before the 1930s, airports used a two-byte abbreviation.
• SFO experiences delays in overcast weather when only two of the airport's four runways can be used at a time because the centerlines of the parallel runways are only 750 feet apart.

Facts about Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA):

• Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport handled 33,851,200 passengers last year.
• Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) has 2 runways.
• In preparation for the Shanghai Expo, on 16 March 2010 Hongqiao Airport completed a five-year 15.3-billion-yuan expansion project, which included a 3,300-meter second runway and the new Terminal 2, boosting Hongqiao's capacity to 40 million passengers a year.
• In addition to being known as "Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport", other names for SHA include "上海虹桥国际机场" and "Shànghǎi Hóngqiáo Guójì Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) is Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) E of SHA.
• Because of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Shanghai Hongqiao 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.
• The airport has the head office of China Eastern Airlines, which is housed in the China Eastern Airlines Building, and the head office of China Cargo Airlines.
• The furthest airport from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) is Comodoro Pierrestegui Airport (COC), which is nearly antipodal to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (meaning Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Comodoro Pierrestegui Airport), and is located 12,397 miles (19,951 kilometers) away in Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentina.