Nonstop flight route between Port Heiden, Alaska, United States and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Port Heiden Airport (PTH), Port Heiden, Alaska, United States and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,403 miles (or 8,695 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 Port Heiden Airport and Santa Maria 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 Port Heiden Airport and Santa Maria 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 Port Heiden Airport (PTH):

• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 919 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 964 enplanements in 2009, and 1,037 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Port Heiden Airport (PTH) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 10,850 miles (17,462 kilometers) away in George, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Port Heiden Airport (PTH) is Chignik Fisheries Airport (KCG), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) S of PTH.
• Because of Port Heiden Airport's relatively low elevation of 95 feet, planes can take off or land at Port Heiden 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.
• Port Heiden Airport (PTH) has 2 runways.
• Beginning in 1958 the airport was used to support Port Heiden Air Force Station, a Cold War United States Air Force Distant Early Warning Line radar station.
• In addition to being known as "Port Heiden Airport", other names for PTH include "Port Heiden Air Force Station" and "Fort Morrow Army Airfield".

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• A chartered Boeing 707-300, Independent Air Flight 1851 from Bergamo, Italy in 1989 crashed on approach to Santa Maria Airport, when it struck the Pico Alto mountain.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 308 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria 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 closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is Moruya Airport (MYA), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Moruya Airport), and is located 12,166 miles (19,579 kilometers) away in Moruya, New South Wales, Australia.
• Santa Maria Airport is an airport located 5 km west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, in the autonomous region of the Azores.
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.