Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Cairo, Egypt:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Cairo International Airport (CAI), Cairo, Egypt would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,245 miles (or 5,222 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 Santa Maria Airport and Cairo 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 Santa Maria Airport and Cairo 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 Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• 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.
• 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.
• It has one runway which is 3,048 m × 60 m.
• The airport at Santa Maria was part of a larger complex of buildings and infrastructures constructed in the 20th century.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• A chartered Boeing 707-300, Independent Air Flight 1851 from Bergamo, Italy in 1989 crashed on approach to Santa Maria Airport, when it struck the Pico Alto mountain.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.

Facts about Cairo International Airport (CAI):

• Cairo International Airport handled 14,711,500 passengers last year.
• The terminal facilities include Departure Hall 1, International Hall 3, and Hall 4 for Private & Non-commercial Aircraft Services.
• In addition to being known as "Cairo International Airport", another name for CAI is "مطار القاهرة الدولي".
• Terminal 1 was originally used by EgyptAir and several Middle Eastern airlines however an increasing number of other foreign carriers, such as Air France and KLM transferred operations from Terminal 2 in 2006.
• Cairo International Airport (CAI) has 3 runways.
• Departures and Arrivals are however with all airlines departing from Terminal 1 Hall 1, with the exception Saudia which is the sole tenant of Terminal 1 Hall 2 due to the size of their operations.
• Because of Cairo International Airport's relatively low elevation of 382 feet, planes can take off or land at Cairo 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 furthest airport from Cairo International Airport (CAI) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,878 miles (19,117 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• The closest airport to Cairo International Airport (CAI) is Alexandria International Airport (ALY), which is located 113 miles (183 kilometers) NW of CAI.
• In February 2010 the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved a loan amount of $387 million to support the Cairo Airport Development Project to overhaul the terminal with national banks providing the rest.