Nonstop flight route between San Diego, California, United States and Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Diego, California, United States and Saipan International Airport (SPN), Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,056 miles (or 9,747 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 Saipan 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 Saipan 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):

• Built and operated by the City of San Diego through the sale of municipal bonds to be repaid by airport users, then the San Diego Unified Port District, the airport is now operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
• 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.
• 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.
• San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field, is a public airport 3 mi northwest of downtown San Diego, California, 15 mi from the Mexico – United States border at Tijuana, Mexico.
• In addition to being known as "San Diego International Airport", another name for SAN is "Lindbergh Field".
• The first scheduled jet flights at Lindbergh Field were in 1960, American Airlines Boeing 720s to Phoenix and United Airlines 720s to San Francisco.
• 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.
• San Diego International Airport (SAN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport was the first federally certified airfield to serve all aircraft types, including seaplanes.
• Aircraft do not land at the end of the runway as at most airports, but at a displaced threshold.
• 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.
• As of December 2012, San Diego International Airport is served by 22 passenger airlines and five cargo airlines which fly nonstop to 54 destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and Japan.
• Runway 27, is a localizer-only approach and is unusable for landing when visibility drops below about 2 miles.

Facts about Saipan International Airport (SPN):

• After several months of disappointing high level bombing attacks from Isely, General Curtis LeMay, Commander of Twentieth Air Force issued a new directive that the high-altitude, daylight attacks be phased out and replaced by low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at nighttime, being followed up with high explosive bombs once the targets were set ablaze.
• The furthest airport from Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho) (SSA), which is nearly antipodal to Saipan International Airport (meaning Saipan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho)), and is located 12,125 miles (19,514 kilometers) away in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
• The closest airport to Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Tinian International Airport (TIQ), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SW of SPN.
• The IJNAS assigned two squadrons of Mitsubishi A6M5a-52 Zeros to the airfield in mid-June 1944.
• Because of Saipan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 215 feet, planes can take off or land at Saipan 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.
• In 2005, Japan Airlines suspended its services from Japan to SPN.
• In addition to being known as "Saipan International Airport", other names for SPN include "Francisco C. Ada Airport" and "GSN".
• Saipan International Airport (SPN) currently has only 1 runway.