Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Cairo, Egypt:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Cairo International Airport (CAI), Cairo, Egypt would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,245 miles (or 5,222 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 Cairo International 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 Cairo International 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 closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of 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".
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• Santa Maria Airport is an airport located 5 km west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, in the autonomous region of the Azores.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• 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.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.

Facts about Cairo International Airport (CAI):

• In February 2010 the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved a loan amount of $387 million to support the Cairo Airport Development Project to overhaul the terminal with national banks providing the rest.
• In addition to being known as "Cairo International Airport", another name for CAI is "مطار القاهرة الدولي".
• During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces built Payne Airfield to serve the Allied Forces, rather than take over the existing Almaza Airport located 5 kilometres away.
• Cairo International Airport (CAI) has 3 runways.
• As of 2009 the façade of the terminal was being upgraded.
• The closest airport to Cairo International Airport (CAI) is Alexandria International Airport (ALY), which is located 113 miles (183 kilometers) NW of CAI.
• Because of Cairo International Airport's relatively low elevation of 382 feet, planes can take off or land at Cairo International 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 Cairo International Airport (CAI) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,878 miles (19,117 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• Terminal 1 was originally used by EgyptAir and several Middle Eastern airlines however an increasing number of other foreign carriers, such as Air France and KLM transferred operations from Terminal 2 in 2006.
• Cairo International Airport handled 14,711,500 passengers last year.
• In August 2011, Turkey's Limak Holding won the tender for modernizing the terminal.