Nonstop flight route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from SAF to TWU:
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- About this route
- SAF Airport Information
- TWU Airport Information
- Facts about SAF
- Facts about TWU
- 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 TWU
- List of Nearest Airports to TWU
- Map of Furthest Airports from TWU
- List of Furthest Airports from TWU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and Tawau Airport (TWU), Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,464 miles (or 13,621 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 Tawau 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 Santa Fe Municipal Airport and Tawau Airport. 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: | TWU / WBKW |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia |
GPS Coordinates: | 4°18'47"N by 118°7'18"E |
Area Served: | Tawau Division, Sabah, East Malaysia |
Operator/Owner: | Government of Malaysia |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 57 feet (17 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from TWU |
More Information: | TWU 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.
- Currently, American Eagle operates Embraer ERJ-140 and ERJ-145 regional jets on all of its nonstop flights between Santa Fe and Dallas/Ft.
- 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.
- Later, several commuter airlines flew nonstop to Denver, including Mesa Airlines and Great Lakes Airlines with Beechcraft 1900Cs, and Pioneer Airlines with Beechcraft C99s.
- The closest airport to Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) is Los Alamos Airport (LAM), which is located 21 miles (33 kilometers) NNW of SAF.
- 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.
- Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) has 3 runways.
Facts about Tawau Airport (TWU):
- An airport police station is located just at the opposite of the main terminal building.
- Tawau Airport is an airport located 15 nautical miles north east of Tawau, a town in the state of Sabah in Malaysia.
- The furthest airport from Tawau Airport (TWU) is Coari Airport (CIZ), which is nearly antipodal to Tawau Airport (meaning Tawau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Coari Airport), and is located 12,350 miles (19,875 kilometers) away in Coari, Amazonas, Brazil.
- Tawau Airport is located at Balung, 3 km further in from the Pan Borneo Highway.
- The airport was subsequently opened to public in December 2001.
- Tawau Airport (TWU) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Tawau Airport's relatively low elevation of 57 feet, planes can take off or land at Tawau 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 addition to being known as "Tawau Airport", another name for TWU is "Lapangan Terbang Tawau".
- According to a survey, the old airport has one of the shortest runways in the country.
- The closest airport to Tawau Airport (TWU) is Nunukan Airport (NNX), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) WSW of TWU.
- Like other airports in the country, Tawau Airport is under the management of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
- Tawau Airport handled 1,202,344 passengers last year.