Nonstop flight route between Tauranga, New Zealand and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tauranga Airport (TRG), Tauranga, New Zealand and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,264 miles (or 18,128 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 Tauranga Airport and Santa Maria 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 Tauranga Airport and Santa Maria 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 Tauranga Airport (TRG):

• Tauranga Airport (TRG) has 4 runways.
• The furthest airport from Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Granada Airport (GRX), which is nearly antipodal to Tauranga Airport (meaning Tauranga Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Granada Airport), and is located 12,403 miles (19,961 kilometers) away in Granada, Spain.
• In 2010 the airport started an expansion of the terminal that took 6 months.
• Because of Tauranga Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Tauranga 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.
• Tauranga Airport is the current location for the Sportavex biennial fly-in and airshow.
• The closest airport to Tauranga Airport (TRG) is Matamata Airport (MTA), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) W of TRG.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 308 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria 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.
• Santa Maria Airport is an airport located 5 km west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, in the autonomous region of the Azores.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is Moruya Airport (MYA), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Moruya Airport), and is located 12,166 miles (19,579 kilometers) away in Moruya, New South Wales, Australia.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• It has one runway which is 3,048 m × 60 m.
• A chartered Boeing 707-300, Independent Air Flight 1851 from Bergamo, Italy in 1989 crashed on approach to Santa Maria Airport, when it struck the Pico Alto mountain.
• Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Horta, Ponta Delgada and Beja, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98.