Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Kuching International Airport (KCH), Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,492 miles (or 13,667 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 Kuching 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 Kuching 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):

• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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".
• 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.
• Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Horta, Ponta Delgada and Beja, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98.
• 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 Kuching International Airport (KCH):

• The furthest airport from Kuching International Airport (KCH) is Ipiranga Airport (IPG), which is nearly antipodal to Kuching International Airport (meaning Kuching International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ipiranga Airport), and is located 12,406 miles (19,965 kilometers) away in Santo Antônio do Içá, Amazonas, Brazil.
• In addition to being known as "Kuching International Airport", another name for KCH is "Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuching 古晋国际机场".
• Because of Kuching International Airport's relatively low elevation of 89 feet, planes can take off or land at Kuching 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 completed works involved above ground-level earthworks and pavement upgrades, extension of the runway length from 2454 metres to 3780 metres, widening of shoulders from 46 metres to 60 metres, extension of parallel taxiway to a full parallel taxiway with interconnection/rapid exit taxiways including widening of taxiway fillets and shoulders to 30 metres.
• The Sarawak Government is working closely with Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia to rationalise long-haul flights.
• In 1980, consistent with the advent of Airbus A300B4 operations, it was imperative that the runway pavement strength be upgraded to meet the requirements of that particular aircraft.
• In 1971, the Malaysian Government engaged a team of Canadian Consultants to make a Master Plan study of Kuching International Airport.
• In 1962, the runway was extended once more to a length of 1921 meters to facilitate DeHavilland Comet-4 turbojet aircraft operations.
• Kuching International Airport (KCH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Kuching International Airport (KCH) is Sematan Airport (BSE), which is located 61 miles (98 kilometers) SW of KCH.
• Kuching International Airport has two sides of baggage reclaim halls, one is for the domestic flights while the other one is for both international flights and flights outside Sarawak.
• Kuching International Airport handled 4,871,036 passengers last year.
• As a result of the increasing number of passengers going into and out of Kuching, a completely new and larger terminal was needed.