Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Artesia, New Mexico, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS), Artesia, New Mexico, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,367 miles (or 7,027 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 Maria Airport and Artesia Municipal 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 Maria Airport and Artesia Municipal 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 Maria Airport (SMA):

• The forerunner of SATA Air Açores initiated services concurrently to São Miguel and Terceira from Santa Maria Airport on 5 August 1947, using a plane christened "Açor".
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• 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.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• Transportes Aéreos Portugueses began lay-over flights to this airport on 7 December 1962, eventually inaugurating trans-Atlantic service between Santa Maria-New York and Santa Maria-Montreal.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• 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.

Facts about Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS):

• The closest airport to Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) is Roswell International Air Center (ROW), which is located 31 miles (50 kilometers) N of ATS.
• Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,261 miles (18,123 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The facility was deactivated on September 8, 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program.
• During 1943 and 1944 was used by the United States Army Air Forces as a contract glider training airfield.
• For the 12-month period ending April 6, 2011, the airport had 11,550 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 31 per day.