Nonstop flight route between Colón, Panama and San Jose, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (ONX), Colón, Panama and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), San Jose, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,253 miles (or 5,236 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 Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International 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 Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International 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 Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (ONX):

• In addition to being known as "Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport", another name for ONX is "Aeropuerto Enrique Adolfo Jiménez".
• With the entry of the United States into World War I, concern for the security of the canal saw the first airborne forces of the Army being sent to the Canal Zone.
• Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (ONX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (ONX) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (meaning Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,139 miles (19,536 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• The early flights over the Canal Zone also performed mapping missions and both the Canal Zone and the isthmus were thoroughly explored and charted.
• The closest airport to Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport (ONX) is Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport (PAC), which is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) SE of ONX.
• France Air Force Base was deactivated on 1 November 1949 by the United States Air Force due to budgetary reductions, and turned into a civil airport in the United States Canal Zone and renamed Colon Airport.
• Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport is a commercial airport located in Colón, Panama, offering scheduled airline flights to the national capital, Panama City, and to other destinations.
• Because of Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Enrique Adolfo Jiménez 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 1994, this airport was the departure point for Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, later downed by terrorists.
• During the 1930s, France Field was modernized and the facilities upgraded over the decade and the number of assigned units increased as world tensions heightened.
• What would become Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport has its origins before World War I, when on Sunday, 27 April 1913, the Isthmus of Panama was first overflown from a beach near Balboa, on the Pacific side, to the shores near Cristobal on the Atlantic side by an airplane.
• With the return of the Canal Zone to Panama on 1 October 1979, the airport was renamed for Enrique Adolfo Jiménez, who served as Panamanian president from 1945 to 1948.

Facts about Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC):

• Because of Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport's relatively low elevation of 62 feet, planes can take off or land at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International 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.
• Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport handled 8,357,384 passengers last year.
• SJC suffered with many mid-tier airports during the 2008 rise in oil prices as airlines reduced marginal services.
• Reduction at SJC continued throughout 2004.
• Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,363 miles (18,287 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County (RHV), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) ESE of SJC.
• From 1960 to 2010 San Jose State University operated a flight-simulator facility for its aviation program in buildings at the southeast corner of the airport.
• In November 2001 the airport was renamed after Norman Yoshio Mineta, a native of San Jose, its former mayor and congressman, former United States Secretary of Commerce and former United States Secretary of Transportation.
• On February 4, 2013, Virgin America announced it will begin service from San Jose to Los Angeles International Airport on May 1, 2013, with four daily nonstop flights each way.
• In September 2009, San Jose Airport Management announced the 90-day closure of the general aviation runway 11/29 as part of a reconstruction project.
• After the September 11 attacks and the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, the city lost several flights.