Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI), Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,346 miles (or 5,385 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 University of Illinois Willard 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 University of Illinois Willard 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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 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".

Facts about University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI):

• American Eagle has one daily flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on 50-seat ERJs, and six daily ERJ flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
• The closest airport to University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI) is Decatur Airport (DEC), which is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) WSW of CMI.
• The airport is served by buses from the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, which connect with intercity buses and with Amtrak.
• Because of University of Illinois Willard Airport's relatively low elevation of 754 feet, planes can take off or land at University of Illinois Willard 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 airport was dedicated on 26 October 1945.
• The furthest airport from University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,084 miles (17,838 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI) has 4 runways.