Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, California, United States and Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX), Santa Maria, California, United States and Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA), Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,325 miles (or 11,789 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 Public Airport and Zhanjiang 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 Public Airport and Zhanjiang 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 Public Airport (SMX):

• A 4,000-square-foot baggage claim facility opened in 2007.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) is Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SSW of SMX.
• Because of Santa Maria Public Airport's relatively low elevation of 261 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria Public 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.
• During its use by the military Santa Maria AAF also controlled Estrella Army Airfield, near Paso Robles as an auxiliary airfield to support the pilot training activity.
• The first airline to serve Santa Maria was Southwest Airways operating Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Public Airport", another name for SMX is "Capt. G. Allan Hancock FieldSanta Maria Army Airfield".
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,466 miles (18,453 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) has 2 runways.

Facts about Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA):

• The furthest airport from Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) is Diego Aracena International Airport (IQQ), which is nearly antipodal to Zhanjiang Airport (meaning Zhanjiang Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Diego Aracena International Airport), and is located 12,378 miles (19,921 kilometers) away in Iquique, Chile.
• Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Zhanjiang Airport handled 488,835 passengers last year.
• Because of Zhanjiang Airport's relatively low elevation of 125 feet, planes can take off or land at Zhanjiang 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 Zhanjiang Airport (ZHA) is Beihai Fucheng Airport (BHY), which is located 72 miles (116 kilometers) WNW of ZHA.
• In addition to being known as "Zhanjiang Airport", other names for ZHA include "湛江机场" and "Zhànjiāng Jīchǎng".