Nonstop flight route between Santa Barbara, California, United States and Rochester, Kent, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from SBA to RCS:
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- About this route
- SBA Airport Information
- RCS Airport Information
- Facts about SBA
- Facts about RCS
- Map of Nearest Airports to SBA
- List of Nearest Airports to SBA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SBA
- List of Furthest Airports from SBA
- Map of Nearest Airports to RCS
- List of Nearest Airports to RCS
- Map of Furthest Airports from RCS
- List of Furthest Airports from RCS
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States and Rochester Airport (RCS), Rochester, Kent, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,497 miles (or 8,846 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 Rochester 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 Rochester Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SBA / KSBA |
Airport Name: | Santa Barbara Airport |
Location: | Santa Barbara, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°25'33"N by 119°50'25"W |
Area Served: | Santa Barbara, California |
Operator/Owner: | City of Santa Barbara |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 10 feet (3 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from SBA |
More Information: | SBA Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | RCS / EGTO |
Airport Name: | Rochester Airport |
Location: | Rochester, Kent, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°21'6"N by 0°30'10"E |
Operator/Owner: | Rochester Airport Ltd. |
Airport Type: | Private |
Elevation: | 426 feet (130 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from RCS |
More Information: | RCS Maps & Info |
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.
- The largest passenger jet currently serving Santa Barbara is the Airbus A319 operated by Frontier Airlines nonstop to Denver.
- 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.
- American Airlines started nonstop McDonnell Douglas MD-80s to Dallas Fort-Worth International in 1984, sometimes on a triangle routing of DFW-Burbank-SBA-DFW or DFW-Bakersfield-SBA-DFW.
- 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.
- With the outbreak of WWII the airport became MCAS Santa Barbara in 1942, an aviator training base for the U.S Marines.
- Santa Barbara's aviation history began in 1914 when Lincoln J.
- Airline flights began in 1932 on Pacific Seaboard Airlines.
- Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.
- The closest airport to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Santa Ynez Airport (SQA), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NW of SBA.
- Until 2002 Santa Barbara Airport was on a mainline jet aircraft route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Facts about Rochester Airport (RCS):
- Rochester City Council compulsory purchased the land at Rochester Airfield in September 1933 from the landowner as the site for a municipal airport.
- Rochester airport was bombed heavily during the war by a wing of Dornier Do 17s on 15 August 1940.
- Rochester Airport (RCS) has 3 runways.
- The Air Ministry licensed Short Brothers in 1936 to design and build a four-engined high-wing monoplane.
- Short Brothers continued to build seaplanes on the Esplanade at Rochester supplying the growing market for flying boats.
- The furthest airport from Rochester Airport (RCS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,897 miles (19,146 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- The closest airport to Rochester Airport (RCS) is London Southend Airport (SEN), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) NNE of RCS.
- Because of Rochester Airport's relatively low elevation of 426 feet, planes can take off or land at Rochester 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.
- Shorts concentrated their work in Belfast, leaving the Medway towns in 1946.
- In 2013 the Conservative led Medway Council announced there wish for some of the airport land to be separated off and developed for Industrial use.