Nonstop flight route between Ramstein, Germany and San Jose, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ramstein Air Base (RMS), Ramstein, Germany and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), San Jose, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,694 miles (or 9,163 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 Ramstein Air Base 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 Ramstein Air Base 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 Ramstein Air Base (RMS):

• Construction of the modern USAF base near Kaiserslautern began in April 1948 under the provisions of a Franco-American reciprocal agreement.
• The furthest airport from Ramstein Air Base (RMS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Ramstein Air Base (meaning Ramstein Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,003 miles (19,316 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The east gate of Ramstein Air Base is about 10 miles from Kaiserslautern.
• There is often a Summer Camp to Ramstein from British CCF and ATC cadets.
• On 31 January 1973, several headquarters were relocated into and out of Ramstein, when Seventeenth AF moved to Sembach Air Base to make room for the expected move of HQ USAFE to Ramstein.
• One legacy of the two separate air bases is that the north side of Ramstein retained a separate APO from the south side.
• In addition to being known as "Ramstein Air Base", another name for RMS is "Ramstein AB".
• The closest airport to Ramstein Air Base (RMS) is Sembach KaserneSembach Air Base (SEX), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) ENE of RMS.
• Also at Ramstein is the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, which focuses on base-support responsibilities within the KMC.

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

• There are two terminals at the airport, Terminal A, opened in 1990, and Terminal B, opened in 2010.
• Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) has 3 runways.
• 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.
• 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.
• In November 2005 a scaled-back plan was approved and announced.
• SJC is a "downtown airport", unlike SFO and OAK which are on opposite shores of San Francisco Bay.
• After the September 11 attacks and the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, the city lost several flights.
• SJC suffered with many mid-tier airports during the 2008 rise in oil prices as airlines reduced marginal services.
• 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.