Nonstop flight route between Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Havana, Cuba:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States and José Martí International Airport (HAV), Havana, Cuba would travel a Great Circle distance of 768 miles (or 1,236 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 relatively short distance between Shaw Air Force Base and José Martí International Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Shaw Air Force Base (SSC):

• The 20th Fighter Group was first equipped with North American P-51D, then exchanged its P-51's in February 1948 for F-84B Thunderjets, the first TAC group to receive operational F-84s.
• On 1 April 1945 jurisdiction of Shaw Field was transferred to First Air Force.
• The furthest airport from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,545 miles (18,580 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.
• The group initially conducted training with two squadrons flying the Republic RF-84F "Thunderflash" and two squadrons Group, was a part of Strategic Air Command from July 1947 – May 1951, at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana as an Air Force Reserve corollary unit under the guidance of active duty units in order to train and maintain currency in reconnaissance operations for its reserve personnel.
• The 432nd's mission at Shaw AFB was to assume the reconnaissance training mission that was handled previously by the 363d TRW.
• On 23 September 1949 the 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was transferred to the 20th from the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Langley AFB Virginia.
• The 363rd Fighter Wing was inactivated at Shaw AFB on 31 December 1993, and the next day, 1 January 1994, the 20th Fighter Wing inactivated at RAF Upper Heyford and reactivated without personnel or equipment at Shaw AFB, returning to the base it had left for duty with NATO forty-one years earlier.

Facts about José Martí International Airport (HAV):

• In the 1960s the airport was bombed by B-26 aircraft from Brigade 2506, a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles attempting to liberate Cuba from Fidel Castro.
• Today, Copa Airlines is the foreign airline with most flights to the airport, it operates 34 flights a week from Panama City, Panama, and Bogota, Colombia.
• Because of José Martí International Airport's relatively low elevation of 210 feet, planes can take off or land at José Martí 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.
• In addition to being known as "José Martí International Airport", another name for HAV is "Aeropuerto José Martí".
• The closest airport to José Martí International Airport (HAV) is Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport (VRA), which is located 62 miles (100 kilometers) E of HAV.
• The airport is operated by Empresa Cubana de Aeropuertos y Servicios Aeronáuticos.
• International Terminal 3 is the main international terminal which was opened in 1998 by Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Cuba's ex-president Fidel Castro.
• In 1961 diplomatic relations with the United States deteriorated substantially and with the United States embargo against Cuba, airlines from the United States were not permitted to operate regular scheduled flights to the airport.
• The furthest airport from José Martí International Airport (HAV) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 11,689 miles (18,811 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• The airport lies in the municipality of Boyeros and connects Havana with the rest of the Caribbean, North, Central and South America, Europe and one destination in Africa.
• José Martí International Airport (HAV) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 1988 Terminal 2 was constructed in anticipation of future charter flights to the United States.
• Because of Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union, the airport during the 1970s and 1980s enjoyed the presence of many Eastern Bloc airline companies, such as Aeroflot, Czecho-Slovak Airlines, Interflug and LOT Polish Airlines.