Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Kiryat Shmona (Qiryat Shemona), Israel:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Kiryat Shmona Airport (KSW), Kiryat Shmona (Qiryat Shemona), Israel would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,387 miles (or 5,450 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 Kiryat Shmona 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 Kiryat Shmona 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):

• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• 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 (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.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• 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.
• 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 Kiryat Shmona Airport (KSW):

• Kiryat Shmona Airport is a public Israeli airport located 2 km east of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.
• The closest airport to Kiryat Shmona Airport (KSW) is Beirut Air Base (BEY), which is located 42 miles (68 kilometers) N of KSW.
• The furthest airport from Kiryat Shmona Airport (KSW) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,579 miles (18,635 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• Kiryat Shemona and its airport in the background
• Kiryat Shmona Airport (KSW) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Kiryat Shmona Airport's relatively low elevation of 376 feet, planes can take off or land at Kiryat Shmona 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.
• Now rights to fly a domestic route to and from the airport are held by Tamir Airways, while rights to operate the landing strip are owned by a separate company that is in a dispute with Tamir Airways.
• Old terminal, permanently closed
• Tamir Airways announced that it would stop flying to Upper Galilee shortly before the Second Lebanon War broke out, but they changed their mind because they saw it as a "mission of national importance".