Nonstop flight route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and Pituffik, Greenland:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from SAF to THU:
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- About this route
- SAF Airport Information
- THU Airport Information
- Facts about SAF
- Facts about THU
- Map of Nearest Airports to SAF
- List of Nearest Airports to SAF
- Map of Furthest Airports from SAF
- List of Furthest Airports from SAF
- Map of Nearest Airports to THU
- List of Nearest Airports to THU
- Map of Furthest Airports from THU
- List of Furthest Airports from THU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,055 miles (or 4,916 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 Santa Fe Municipal Airport and Thule Air Base, 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 Santa Fe Municipal Airport and Thule Air Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | SAF / KSAF |
| Airport Name: | Santa Fe Municipal Airport |
| Location: | Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 35°37'1"N by 106°5'21"W |
| Area Served: | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Operator/Owner: | City of Santa Fe |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 6348 feet (1,935 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 3 |
| View all routes: | Routes from SAF |
| More Information: | SAF Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | THU / BGTL |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Pituffik, Greenland |
| GPS Coordinates: | 76°31'51"N by 68°42'11"W |
| View all routes: | Routes from THU |
| More Information: | THU Maps & Info |
Facts about Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF):
- The furthest airport from Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,167 miles (17,972 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) has 3 runways.
- The airport had nonstop and direct Douglas DC-9s to Dallas Love Field, continuing to Houston, on Texas International Airlines, and nonstop to Phoenix, AZ on America West Express Beechcraft 1900Cs operated by Mesa Airlines.
- The completion of the environmental impact statement was announced on February 26, 2009, but neither Delta or American Airlines immediately announced any resumption of their intentions to serve the facility, citing changed economic conditions.
- The closest airport to Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) is Los Alamos Airport (LAM), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) NNW of SAF.
- Santa Fe Municipal Airport is a city owned, public airport ten miles southwest of Santa Fe, a city in Santa Fe County, New Mexico.
- Because of Santa Fe Municipal Airport's high elevation of 6,348 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at SAF. Combined with a high temperature, this could make SAF a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
- On March 1, 2013, it was announced that Santa Fe Municipal Airport may lose funding for operating its control tower due to federal budget cuts, leading to concerns that the airport may lose its commercial airline service.
Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):
- In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
- Late 1950s the DEW 1 to 4 where build as "weather stations", Thule Air Base would act as an supply station for the DYE bases.
- Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
- In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.
- The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
- After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Henrik Kauffmann Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement "In the name of the king" with the United States authorizing the United States to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression - this agreement faced Kaufmann with a charge of high treason.
- Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.
- Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.
- In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
- The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
