Nonstop flight route between Bilbao, Spain and Santa Barbara, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bilbao Airport (BIO), Bilbao, Spain and Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,759 miles (or 9,268 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 Bilbao Airport and Santa Barbara 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 Bilbao Airport and Santa Barbara 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 Bilbao Airport (BIO):

• In addition to being known as "Bilbao Airport", another name for BIO is "Bilboko aireportua (eu) Aeropuerto de Bilbao (es)".
• In 1996, a new taxiway with two rapid exits and a new aircraft parking apron were built.
• Bilbao Airport handled 3,800,789 passengers last year.
• Bilbao Airport is a public airport located 9 km north of Bilbao, in the municipality of Loiu, in Biscay.
• The furthest airport from Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is nearly antipodal to Bilbao Airport (meaning Bilbao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hood Aerodrome), and is located 12,260 miles (19,730 kilometers) away in Masterton, New Zealand.
• Between 1964 and 1965, an instrumental ILS landing system and a meteorological radio for storm detection were installed.
• Bilbao Airport (BIO) has 2 runways.
• There has been some criticism of Santiago Calatrava's design by Aena, the Spanish airport authority, because it seems difficult to make further enlargements in the terminal's capacity because the design is too closed.
• The closest airport to Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Vitoria-Gasteiz Airport (VIT), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) SSE of BIO.
• Because of Bilbao Airport's relatively low elevation of 137 feet, planes can take off or land at Bilbao 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 Barbara Airport (SBA):

• The closest airport to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Santa Ynez Airport (SQA), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NW of SBA.
• The largest passenger jet currently serving Santa Barbara is the Airbus A319 operated by Frontier Airlines nonstop to Denver.
• There are two fixed based operators on the field, Signature Flight Support and Atlantic Aviation, and three flight schools, Above All Aviation, Red Baron Aviation, and Spitfire Aviation.
• The furthest airport from Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,487 miles (18,486 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The United Airlines system timetable dated February 1, 1937 listed daily round trip service flown with a Douglas DC-3 twin prop aircraft on a routing of Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Francisco-Oakland.
• As airplane manufacturing grew in the late 1930s that airstrip developed into an airfield.
• In the 1951 war film Flying Leathernecks, John Wayne's character was stationed in Goleta.
• Until 2002 Santa Barbara Airport was on a mainline jet aircraft route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.
• Because of Santa Barbara Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Barbara 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.