Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Kleyate / Tripoli, Lebanon:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Rene Mouawad Air Base (KYE), Kleyate / Tripoli, Lebanon would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,373 miles (or 5,428 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 Rene Mouawad Air Base, 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 Rene Mouawad Air Base. 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 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.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• 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.
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• 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".

Facts about Rene Mouawad Air Base (KYE):

• Rene Mouawad Air Base, formerly and still sometimes known as Kleyate Airport, used to be a military-civil joint airport in northern Lebanon, near the town of Kleyate and 6 kilometres from the Lebanese–Syrian border.
• Because of Rene Mouawad Air Base's relatively low elevation of 75 feet, planes can take off or land at Rene Mouawad Air Base 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.
• In the 1990s Middle East Airlines ran flights between this air base and Beirut to serve Tripoli and the surrounding area.
• The furthest airport from Rene Mouawad Air Base (KYE) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,486 miles (18,484 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• Rene Mouawad Air Base (KYE) currently has only 1 runway.
• On January 2012, the Lebanese cabinet announced plans to restore the airport so that it will be used for cargo and low cost airlines.
• In addition to being known as "Rene Mouawad Air Base", another name for KYE is "مطار الرئيس الشهيد رينيه معوض".
• In 2010, Lebanon’s director general of the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority, Dr Hamdi Chaouk announced that Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport would be built at Kleyate with construction due to start in 2011.
• The closest airport to Rene Mouawad Air Base (KYE) is Bassel al-Assad International Airport (LTK), which is located 56 miles (90 kilometers) N of KYE.