Nonstop flight route between San Diego, California, United States and Gaborone, Botswana:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Diego, California, United States and Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE), Gaborone, Botswana would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,142 miles (or 16,322 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 San Diego International Airport and Sir Seretse Khama 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 San Diego International Airport and Sir Seretse Khama 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 San Diego International Airport (SAN):

• San Diego International is the busiest single-runway commercial airport in the United States, and the second-busiest single-use runway in the world after London Gatwick with about 550 departures and arrivals carrying 50,000 passengers each day, and a total of 17,250,269 passengers in 2012.
• The closest airport to San Diego International Airport (SAN) is NAS North Island (NZY), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) SSW of SAN.
• Runway 27, is a localizer-only approach and is unusable for landing when visibility drops below about 2 miles.
• Aircraft do not land at the end of the runway as at most airports, but at a displaced threshold.
• The Army Air Corps took over the field in 1942, improving it to handle the heavy bombers being manufactured in the region.
• Inspired by Lindbergh's flight and excited to have made his plane, the city of San Diego passed a bond issue in 1928 for the construction of a two-runway municipal airport.
• The first scheduled jet flights at Lindbergh Field were in 1960, American Airlines Boeing 720s to Phoenix and United Airlines 720s to San Francisco.
• In addition to being known as "San Diego International Airport", another name for SAN is "Lindbergh Field".
• San Diego International Airport (SAN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of San Diego International Airport's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at San Diego 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.
• The furthest airport from San Diego International Airport (SAN) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,540 miles (18,571 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Landing at the airport from the east offers closeup views of skyscrapers, Petco Park, and the Coronado Bridge from the left side of the aircraft.
• Japan Airlines began service to Tokyo-Narita on December 2, 2012, using the Boeing 787 aircraft.

Facts about Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE):

• Airport before expansion
• On October 11, 1999, an Air Botswana pilot, Captain Chris Phatswe, commandeered a parked Aérospatiale ATR 42 aircraft A2-ABB without authorization in the early morning and took off.
• The closest airport to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) is Lobatse Airport (LOQ), which is located 46 miles (74 kilometers) SSW of GBE.
• The furthest airport from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is nearly antipodal to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (meaning Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hana Airport), and is located 12,149 miles (19,552 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Airline sources say the pilot had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000.
• Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) currently has only 1 runway.