Nonstop flight route between San Diego, California, United States and Zürich, Switzerland:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from SDM to ZRH:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- SDM Airport Information
- ZRH Airport Information
- Facts about SDM
- Facts about ZRH
- Map of Nearest Airports to SDM
- List of Nearest Airports to SDM
- Map of Furthest Airports from SDM
- List of Furthest Airports from SDM
- Map of Nearest Airports to ZRH
- List of Nearest Airports to ZRH
- Map of Furthest Airports from ZRH
- List of Furthest Airports from ZRH
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM), San Diego, California, United States and Zurich Airport (ZRH), Zürich, Switzerland would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,958 miles (or 9,589 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 Brown Field Municipal Airport and Zurich 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 Brown Field Municipal Airport and Zurich Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SDM / KSDM |
Airport Name: | Brown Field Municipal Airport |
Location: | San Diego, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 32°34'19"N by 116°58'49"W |
Area Served: | San Diego, California |
Operator/Owner: | City of San Diego |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 526 feet (160 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from SDM |
More Information: | SDM Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ZRH / LSZH |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Zürich, Switzerland |
GPS Coordinates: | 47°27'52"N by 8°32'57"E |
Area Served: | Zürich, Switzerland |
Operator/Owner: | Flughafen Zürich AG |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 1416 feet (432 meters) |
# of Runways: | 4 |
View all routes: | Routes from ZRH |
More Information: | ZRH Maps & Info |
Facts about Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM):
- Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) is Tijuana International Airport (TIJ), which is located only 2 miles (4 kilometers) SSE of SDM.
- A precision approach is not possible to either runway end due to rising terrain less than six miles east of the airport.
- The furthest airport from Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,551 miles (18,590 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Brown Field is 1.5 miles north of the US/Mexico border in the Otay Mesa Community of the City of San Diego.
- Tijuana Airport, an airline airport, is just over 1 nmi to the south across the Mexico-United States border, with a similar length and a slightly different runway orientation.
- Because of Brown Field Municipal Airport's relatively low elevation of 526 feet, planes can take off or land at Brown Field Municipal 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.
- On September 1, 1962 the Navy transferred ownership of Brown Field to the City of San Diego, with the condition that it remains a public airport.
Facts about Zurich Airport (ZRH):
- Zurich Airport (ZRH) has 4 runways.
- The furthest airport from Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zurich Airport (meaning Zurich Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,087 miles (19,453 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- In addition to being known as "Zurich Airport", another name for ZRH is "Flughafen Zürich".
- Zurich Airport, also known as Zurich Kloten Airport, is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines.
- A treaty was signed in 2001, regarding the limitation of flights over Germany.
- Zurich Airport handled 24,865,138 passengers last year.
- The closest airport to Zurich Airport (ZRH) is Emmen Swiss Air Base (EML), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) SSW of ZRH.
- Zurich Airport railway station is located underneath the terminal.
- Edelweiss Air has its head office in the Edelweiss Air Operations Center on the airport grounds.gategroup has its head office on the airport property.Helvetic Airways has its head office on the grounds of the airport in Kloten.
- The airport is owned by Flughafen Zürich AG, a company quoted on the SIX Swiss Exchange.