Nonstop flight route between Harare, Zimbabwe and Santa Barbara, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Harare International Airport (HRE), Harare, Zimbabwe and Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,317 miles (or 16,603 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 Harare International 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 Harare International 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 Harare International Airport (HRE):

• The closest airport to Harare International Airport (HRE) is Mutare Airport (UTA), which is located 125 miles (201 kilometers) SE of HRE.
• The Southern Rhodesia government had appointed a Southern Rhodesia Aerodrome Board as early as January 1947, whose task was to advise the government on the selection, acquisition, construction and maintenance of government aerodromes and landing grounds in Southern Rhodesia.
• Harare International Airport (HRE) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 1949 the government purchased Kentucky and Adair farms east of Salisbury for the construction of the new airport.
• The airport is today operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe and is the hub of Air Zimbabwe.
• Commissioned in 1956 and officially opened on 5 February 1957, Salisbury Airport cost £924'000 to build.
• Harare International Airport handled 612,208 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Harare International Airport (HRE) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is nearly antipodal to Harare International Airport (meaning Harare International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hilo International Airport), and is located 12,017 miles (19,339 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
• Air Rhodesia established its headquarters at the airport in 1967, and since Independence in 1980, Air Rhodesia's successor, Air Zimbabwe, has maintained the status-quo with its head office, too, located at the airport.
• Because of Harare International Airport's high elevation of 4,887 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at HRE. Combined with a high temperature, this could make HRE a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Because of a decline in tourism numbers, due to internal political conflicts since 2000, few major airlines now use the airport.
• Also in 1949 the Minister of Mines and Transport set up an Airport Panel to co-ordinate the construction of the airport.

Facts about Santa Barbara Airport (SBA):

• 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.
• In the 1980s Apollo Airways, a commuter airline based in Santa Barbara that changed its name to Pacific Coast Airlines, flew Handley Page HP.137 Jetstreams from the airport.
• Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.
• It is near the University of California, Santa Barbara and the city of Goleta.
• 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.
• On August 18, 2011 the airport opened a new 72,000 square foot terminal to add to the single story terminal built by United Airlines in 1942.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is a public airport 7 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, California, United States.
• The closest airport to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Santa Ynez Airport (SQA), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NW of SBA.
• Airline flights began in 1932 on Pacific Seaboard Airlines.
• The Spanish-style terminal building, commissioned by United Airlines in 1942 was designed by William Edwards and Joseph Plunkett, an architectural team whose work, including the Arlington Theatre and the National Armory, helped shape the Mediterranean style of the city.