Nonstop flight route between Santa Barbara, California, United States and Massawa, Eritrea:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States and Massawa International Airport (MSW), Massawa, Eritrea would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,715 miles (or 14,025 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 Barbara Airport and Massawa 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 Santa Barbara Airport and Massawa 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 Santa Barbara Airport (SBA):

• The United Airlines system timetable dated February 1, 1937 listed daily round trip service flown with a Douglas DC-3 twin prop aircraft on a routing of Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Francisco-Oakland.
• As the prospect of war escalated the United States Government established a program to construct 250 airports across the country on a cost-sharing basis with local governments.
• Because of Santa Barbara Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Barbara 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.
• With the outbreak of WWII the airport became MCAS Santa Barbara in 1942, an aviator training base for the U.S Marines.
• Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.
• It is near the University of California, Santa Barbara and the city of Goleta.
• The closest airport to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Santa Ynez Airport (SQA), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NW of SBA.
• The furthest airport from Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,487 miles (18,486 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• In the 1980s Apollo Airways, a commuter airline based in Santa Barbara that changed its name to Pacific Coast Airlines, flew Handley Page HP.137 Jetstreams from the airport.

Facts about Massawa International Airport (MSW):

• Massawa International Airport (MSW) currently has only 1 runway.
• As of 2014, the airport only hosts domestic flights since the companies that formed it do not have an international license.
• Because of Massawa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 206 feet, planes can take off or land at Massawa 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 closest airport to Massawa International Airport (MSW) is Asmara International Airport (ASM), which is located 41 miles (66 kilometers) SW of MSW.
• The furthest airport from Massawa International Airport (MSW) is Fangatau Airport (FGU), which is nearly antipodal to Massawa International Airport (meaning Massawa International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fangatau Airport), and is located 12,417 miles (19,984 kilometers) away in Fangatau, French Polynesia.