Nonstop flight route between Sola, Vanua Lava, Torba Province, Vanuatu and Santa Maria, Portugal:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from SLH to SMA:
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- About this route
- SLH Airport Information
- SMA Airport Information
- Facts about SLH
- Facts about SMA
- Map of Nearest Airports to SLH
- List of Nearest Airports to SLH
- Map of Furthest Airports from SLH
- List of Furthest Airports from SLH
- Map of Nearest Airports to SMA
- List of Nearest Airports to SMA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SMA
- List of Furthest Airports from SMA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Vanua Lava Airport (SLH), Sola, Vanua Lava, Torba Province, Vanuatu and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,657 miles (or 17,151 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 Vanua Lava Airport and Santa Maria 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 Vanua Lava Airport and Santa Maria Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SLH / NVSC |
Airport Name: | Vanua Lava Airport |
Location: | Sola, Vanua Lava, Torba Province, Vanuatu |
GPS Coordinates: | 13°51'6"S by 167°32'12"E |
Area Served: | Vanua Lava, Torba, Vanuatu |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 7 feet (2 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from SLH |
More Information: | SLH Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SMA / LPAZ |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Santa Maria, Portugal |
GPS Coordinates: | 36°58'26"N by 25°10'15"W |
Area Served: | Vila do Porto |
Operator/Owner: | Government of Portugal |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 308 feet (94 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from SMA |
More Information: | SMA Maps & Info |
Facts about Vanua Lava Airport (SLH):
- Because of Vanua Lava Airport's relatively low elevation of 7 feet, planes can take off or land at Vanua Lava 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 Vanua Lava Airport (SLH) is Bakel Airport (BXE), which is nearly antipodal to Vanua Lava Airport (meaning Vanua Lava Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Bakel Airport), and is located 12,368 miles (19,904 kilometers) away in Bakel, Senegal.
- The closest airport to Vanua Lava Airport (SLH) is Mota Lava Airport (MTV), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) NE of SLH.
Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):
- Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
- Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
- Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 308 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria 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.
- A chartered Boeing 707-300, Independent Air Flight 1851 from Bergamo, Italy in 1989 crashed on approach to Santa Maria Airport, when it struck the Pico Alto mountain.
- The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is Moruya Airport (MYA), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Moruya Airport), and is located 12,166 miles (19,579 kilometers) away in Moruya, New South Wales, Australia.
- The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
- It was built in the context of the Second World War, by US troops in order to maintain supply lines to Europe, and inaugurated on 26 July 1945.
- In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
- For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.