Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Columbus, Ohio, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK), Columbus, Ohio, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,079 miles (or 4,955 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 Rickenbacker 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 Rickenbacker 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".
• 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 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.
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.
• 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.
• 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 (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK):

• The closest airport to Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) is Port Columbus International Airport (CMH), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) N of LCK.
• The furthest airport from Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,363 miles (18,287 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) has 2 runways.
• Direct Air served the airport until March 2012.
• Rickenbacker used to be run by the Rickenbacker Port Authority, until merging in 2003 with Port Columbus and Bolton field creating the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.
• In December 2006 PlanetSpace entered negotiations with the Ohio government to build a spaceport at Rickenbacker.
• Because of Rickenbacker International Airport's relatively low elevation of 744 feet, planes can take off or land at Rickenbacker 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 facility opened in June 1942 as Lockbourne Army Airfield.