Nonstop flight route between El Salvador, Chile and Santa Maria, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (ESR), El Salvador, Chile and Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX), Santa Maria, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,372 miles (or 8,646 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 Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport and Santa Maria Public 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 Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport and Santa Maria Public 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 Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (ESR):

• The closest airport to Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (ESR) is Chañaral Airport (CNR), which is located 52 miles (84 kilometers) W of ESR.
• Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (ESR) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport's high elevation of 5,240 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at ESR. Combined with a high temperature, this could make ESR a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (ESR) is Liping Airport (HZH), which is nearly antipodal to Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport (meaning Ricardo García Posada Airport El Salvador Bajo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Liping Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Liping County, Guizhou, China.

Facts about Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX):

• A 4,000-square-foot baggage claim facility opened in 2007.
• The extended primary runway at Santa Maria is paved to 8,004 feet, giving the airport the longest civil runway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the central coast and Vandenberg AFB's runway are longer).
• Because of Santa Maria Public Airport's relatively low elevation of 261 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria Public 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.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Public Airport", another name for SMX is "Capt. G. Allan Hancock FieldSanta Maria Army Airfield".
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) is Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SSW of SMX.
• The first airline to serve Santa Maria was Southwest Airways operating Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,466 miles (18,453 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) has 2 runways.
• During its use by the military Santa Maria AAF also controlled Estrella Army Airfield, near Paso Robles as an auxiliary airfield to support the pilot training activity.