Nonstop flight route between Artesia, New Mexico, United States and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS), Artesia, New Mexico, United States and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,367 miles (or 7,027 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 Artesia Municipal 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 Artesia Municipal 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 Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS):

• The furthest airport from Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,261 miles (18,123 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Artesia Municipal Airport covers an area of 1,440 acres at an elevation of 3,541 feet above mean sea level.
• Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) is Roswell International Air Center (ROW), which is located 31 miles (50 kilometers) N of ATS.
• During 1943 and 1944 was used by the United States Army Air Forces as a contract glider training airfield.
• For the 12-month period ending April 6, 2011, the airport had 11,550 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 31 per day.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• 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.
• 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.
• Santa Maria Airport is an airport located 5 km west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, in the autonomous region of the Azores.
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.
• 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 handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• 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".