Nonstop flight route between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santos Dumont Airport (SDU), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,935 miles (or 7,943 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 Santos Dumont Airport and Northwest Alabama Regional 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 Santos Dumont Airport and Northwest Alabama Regional 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 Santos Dumont Airport (SDU):

• In addition to being known as "Santos Dumont Airport", another name for SDU is "Aeroporto Santos Dumont".
• All these bus services have their stops in front of the arrivals terminal and tickets can be bought in the bus while boarding.
• Santos Dumont has slot restrictions operating with a maximum of 23 operations/hour, being one of the three airports with such restrictions in Brazil.
• Over the years, the airport's main runway has been extended several times, first to 2,300 feet, then to 3,000 feet, and finally 4,340 feet.
• Because of Santos Dumont Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Santos Dumont 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 Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is nearly antipodal to Santos Dumont Airport (meaning Santos Dumont Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2), and is located 12,125 miles (19,513 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• The closest airport to Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) is Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NW of SDU.
• Santos Dumont Airport handled 9,204,603 passengers last year.
• Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) has 2 runways.
• Due to a fire that almost destroyed the main terminal in 1999, the passenger terminal building was closed for 6 months.

Facts about Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL):

• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 5,061 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 6,897 in 2009, and 8,680 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,143 miles (17,932 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Prior to summer 2009, Muscle Shoals was served from Northwest Airlines' hub in Memphis via Northwest Airlink turboprop service operated by Mesaba Airlines.
• Because of Northwest Alabama Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 551 feet, planes can take off or land at Northwest Alabama Regional 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.
• Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Pryor Field Regional Airport (DCU), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) E of MSL.