Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Lakeland, Florida, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL), Lakeland, Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,322 miles (or 5,347 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 Lakeland Linder Regional 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 Lakeland Linder Regional 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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 Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL):

• The airport hosts corporate flight operations for the respective national headquarters of the Publix supermarket corporation, its associated PECU Insurance Agency, LLC, and the Watkins Motor Line trucking corporation.
• Design of the current 2½ story airside/landside terminal was begun in 1997, with construction comencing in 2000 and completed in late 2001.
• The airport is also the official home of the Black Diamond Jet Team, a civilian aerobatic demonstration team which flies four Aero L-39 Albatros high performance trainers and two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 fighter jets.
• In 1940, the Lakeland City Commission passed a resolution to replace the city's Lakeland Municipal Airport, which was built in 1933 & early 1934.
• The city had barely begun work on the new airport when, with war already raging in Europe, it leased the facility to the War Department.
• The airport possesses a Federal Aviation Regulations Part 139 operating certificate entitling it to conduct commercial passenger aircraft operations and the current terminal facility, which opened in late 2001, was designed to enable it to conduct airline operations with minimal modifications.
• Because of Lakeland Linder Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 142 feet, planes can take off or land at Lakeland Linder Regional 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.
• Over the years, the airport has seen a number of layout modifications.
• In addition to being known as "Lakeland Linder Regional Airport", another name for LAL is "Drane Field".
• The closest airport to Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) is Bartow Municipal Airport (BOW), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) ESE of LAL.
• Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) has 2 runways.
• From the 1970s until 1999, the airfield operated as a joint civil-military facility when it hosted Army Aviation Support Facility #2 of the Florida Army National Guard, operating since-retired UH-1 Huey helicopters, followed by locally-based UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters of Detachment D, 171st Aviation Battalion and C-23B+ Sherpa fixed-wing cargo aircraft of Detachment 1, H/171st Aviation Battalion.
• The furthest airport from Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,466 miles (18,453 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.