Nonstop flight route between Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands and Sitka, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Saipan International Airport (SPN), Saipan Island, Northern Mariana Islands and Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT), Sitka, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,929 miles (or 7,933 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 Saipan International Airport and Sitka Rocky Gutierrez 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 Saipan International Airport and Sitka Rocky Gutierrez 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 Saipan International Airport (SPN):

• Japanese tourists began visiting Saipan in large numbers during the 1970s.
• Because of Saipan International Airport's relatively low elevation of 215 feet, planes can take off or land at Saipan 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 furthest airport from Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho) (SSA), which is nearly antipodal to Saipan International Airport (meaning Saipan International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho)), and is located 12,125 miles (19,514 kilometers) away in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
• A Star Marianas plane crashed during takeoff on November 17, 2012 on its return from Tinian.
• Saipan International Airport (SPN) currently has only 1 runway.
• With the end of the war the wing's four bomb groups were all returned to the United States, with their B-29s either being flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for scrapping, or were flown to storage facilities in Texas or Arizona.
• The IJNAS assigned two squadrons of Mitsubishi A6M5a-52 Zeros to the airfield in mid-June 1944.
• The closest airport to Saipan International Airport (SPN) is Tinian International Airport (TIQ), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) SW of SPN.
• SPN was a sugarcane field before the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service constructed a temporary landing field on the site in 1933.
• In addition to being known as "Saipan International Airport", other names for SPN include "Francisco C. Ada Airport" and "GSN".

Facts about Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT):

• Because of Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Sitka Rocky Gutierrez 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 airport also has hangars for air traffic control, Civil Air Patrol, and private enterprises.
• Safety hazards include boulders from the causeway washing onto the runway during storms, high winds because of its exposed location, and large flocks of birds that live very close to the airport.
• The furthest airport from Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 10,611 miles (17,077 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
• Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT) currently has only 1 runway.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 68,197 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 62,498 enplanements in 2009, and 64,536 in 2010.
• The closest airport to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT) is Chatham Seaplane Base (CYM), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NNE of SIT.