Nonstop flight route between New Plymouth, New Zealand and Santa Barbara, California, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from NPL to SBA:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- NPL Airport Information
- SBA Airport Information
- Facts about NPL
- Facts about SBA
- Map of Nearest Airports to NPL
- List of Nearest Airports to NPL
- Map of Furthest Airports from NPL
- List of Furthest Airports from NPL
- Map of Nearest Airports to SBA
- List of Nearest Airports to SBA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SBA
- List of Furthest Airports from SBA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between New Plymouth Airport (NPL), New Plymouth, New Zealand and Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,595 miles (or 10,613 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 New Plymouth 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 New Plymouth 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:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NPL / NZNP |
Airport Name: | New Plymouth Airport |
Location: | New Plymouth, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 39°0'30"S by 174°10'45"E |
Operator/Owner: | New Plymouth District Council Government of New Zealand |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 97 feet (30 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from NPL |
More Information: | NPL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SBA / KSBA |
Airport Name: | Santa Barbara Airport |
Location: | Santa Barbara, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°25'33"N by 119°50'25"W |
Area Served: | Santa Barbara, California |
Operator/Owner: | City of Santa Barbara |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 10 feet (3 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from SBA |
More Information: | SBA Maps & Info |
Facts about New Plymouth Airport (NPL):
- The furthest airport from New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Badajoz Airport (BJZ), which is nearly antipodal to New Plymouth Airport (meaning New Plymouth Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Badajoz Airport), and is located 12,382 miles (19,928 kilometers) away in Badajoz, Spain.
- New Plymouth District Council has confirmed that they are designing a new terminal extension for construction in 2015.
- The closest airport to New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Wanganui Airport (WAG), which is located 80 miles (129 kilometers) SE of NPL.
- The terminal is equipped with two check-in desks for Air New Zealand subsidiary carriers, rental car outlets, flight arrival and departure monitors, public toilets, a cafe, and a Koru Regional Lounge.
- New Plymouth Airport handled 332,178 passengers last year.
- The original terminal was renovated during the 1990s.
- Because of New Plymouth Airport's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at New Plymouth 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.
- New Plymouth Airport (NPL) has 3 runways.
Facts about Santa Barbara Airport (SBA):
- 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.
- In the 1951 war film Flying Leathernecks, John Wayne's character was stationed in Goleta.
- In addition to regularly scheduled flights offered by other airlines, Surf Air operates service to Burbank and San Carlos in California using seven seat Pilatus PC-12 turboprops via a membership only, pay-as-you-fly program.
- 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.
- 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.
- The largest passenger jet currently serving Santa Barbara is the Airbus A319 operated by Frontier Airlines nonstop to Denver.
- 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.
- Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.