Nonstop flight route between Abuja, Nigeria and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV), Abuja, Nigeria and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,800 miles (or 4,506 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 Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Santa Maria 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 Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Santa Maria 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 Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV):

• Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport handled 618,360 passengers last year.
• Plans were invited for the construction of a second runway.
• The closest airport to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) is Minna Airport (MXJ), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) NW of ABV.
• Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV) is Asau Airport (AAU), which is nearly antipodal to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (meaning Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Asau Airport), and is located 12,126 miles (19,515 kilometers) away in Asau, Samoa.
• The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has its head office on the airport grounds.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• The forerunner of SATA Air Açores initiated services concurrently to São Miguel and Terceira from Santa Maria Airport on 5 August 1947, using a plane christened "Açor".
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• It was built in the context of the Second World War, by US troops in order to maintain supply lines to Europe, and inaugurated on 26 July 1945.
• 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.