Nonstop flight route between Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar and Lod (near Tel Aviv), Israel:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sainte Marie Airport (SMS), Île Sainte-Marie, Madagascar and Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), Lod (near Tel Aviv), Israel would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,534 miles (or 5,687 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 Sainte Marie Airport and Ben Gurion 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 Sainte Marie Airport and Ben Gurion 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 Sainte Marie Airport (SMS):

• Sainte Marie Airport (SMS) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Sainte Marie Airport's relatively low elevation of 7 feet, planes can take off or land at Sainte Marie 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 Sainte Marie Airport (SMS) is Toamasino Airport (TMM), which is located 76 miles (122 kilometers) SSW of SMS.
• The furthest airport from Sainte Marie Airport (SMS) is Guerrero Negro Airport (GUB), which is located 11,161 miles (17,962 kilometers) away in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Facts about Ben Gurion Airport (TLV):

• The furthest airport from Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,672 miles (18,784 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• Ben Gurion airport is located near the suburb of Lod, 19 km from Tel Aviv's city centre, in the southeastern outskirts of Tel Aviv.
• Because of Ben Gurion Airport's relatively low elevation of 134 feet, planes can take off or land at Ben Gurion 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.
• Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) has 3 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Ben Gurion Airport", another name for TLV is "נְמַל הַתְּעוּפָה בֵּן גּוּרְיוֹן".
• The closest airport to Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) is Sde Dov Airport (SDV), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) NW of TLV.
• The airport began as an airstrip of four concrete runways on the outskirts of the town of Lydda.
• When it was originally built, the short runway was 1,780 m long, making it too short to accommodate most mainline passenger jets.
• The first civilian transatlantic route, New York City to Tel Aviv, was inaugurated by TWA in 1946.
• Work on Natbag 2000, as the Terminal 3 project was known, was scheduled for completion prior to 2000 in order to handle a massive influx of pilgrims expected for the Millennium celebrations.
• The closest runway to terminals 1 and 3 is 12/30, 3,112 m in length, and is followed by a taxiway.