Nonstop flight route between Santa Monica, California, United States and Kabul, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Monica Airport (SMO), Santa Monica, California, United States and Kabul International Airport (KBL), Kabul, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,672 miles (or 12,347 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 Monica Airport and Kabul 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 Monica Airport and Kabul 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 Monica Airport (SMO):

• As the Santa Monica Airport is one of relatively few general aviation airports in the nation that is surrounded on all sides by dense residential development, the City of Santa Monica aggressively enforces one of the most stringent noise ordinances in the nation.
• The furthest airport from Santa Monica Airport (SMO) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,484 miles (18,481 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Operational Limitations – Touch-and-go, stop-and-go, and low approaches are prohibited on weekends, holidays, and weekdays from one-half hour after sunset until 7 am the following day.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Monica Airport", other names for SMO include "Santa Monica Municipal Airport" and "Clover Field".
• Because of Santa Monica Airport's relatively low elevation of 177 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Monica 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 Monica Airport (SMO) is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) SSE of SMO.
• Santa Monica Airport (SMO) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport has a control tower and, on average, handled 296 operations a day.

Facts about Kabul International Airport (KBL):

• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KBL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,919 miles (19,182 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• The Kabul International Airport was built in the early 1960s.
• Passenger movements reached 100,000 per year by 2010 or 300 per day.
• Kabul International Airport is located 16 kilometers from the city center of Kabul in Afghanistan.
• Kabul International Airport (KBL) currently has only 1 runway.
• Fire fighting equipment is present.
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KBL) is Bagram Airfield (OAI), which is located 26 miles (43 kilometers) N of KBL.
• Because of Kabul International Airport's high elevation of 5,877 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KBL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KBL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", another name for KBL is "میدان هوایی بین المللی کابل".
• An F-15E Strike Eagle from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., sits on the runway at the Kabul International Airport September 2011.
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen at Kabul Airport in 2009