Nonstop flight route between Townsville, Queensland, Australia and Santa Maria, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Townsville Airport (TSV), Townsville, Queensland, Australia and Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX), Santa Maria, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,122 miles (or 11,461 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 Townsville Airport and Santa Maria Public 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 Townsville Airport and Santa Maria Public 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 Townsville Airport (TSV):

• In the mid-1990s domestic flights started to decrease, with some services being cut back by Qantas and Ansett.
• Because of Townsville Airport's relatively low elevation of 18 feet, planes can take off or land at Townsville 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 Townsville Airport (TSV) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,884 miles (19,125 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• NAACEX or the Northern Australian Aerospace Centre of Excellence is an Aviation business park, located at Townsville Airport, that was announced by Queensland Airports Ltd is February 2007.
• The closest airport to Townsville Airport (TSV) is Charters Towers Airport (CXT), which is located 63 miles (102 kilometers) SSW of TSV.
• The first airport was established in the 1920s in the Thuringowa Shire south of the Ross River, in what is now the suburb of Murray.
• Townsville Airport (TSV) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Townsville Airport", other names for TSV include "Garbutt Airport" and "Townsville International Airport".
• Townsville Airport handled 1,644,089 passengers last year.
• The project included a new common user departures and arrivals lounge, new modern check-in facilities for Qantas and QantasLink, a new Qantas Club adjacent to the new departures lounge, new retail stores and airside retail space, a new mezzanine level with departure lounges, and three aerobridges for aircraft up to the size of Boeing 767 aircraft.
• Townsville Airport experienced a progressive increase in passenger numbers and aircraftmovements after World War II, with services operated by Qantas, Trans Australia Airlines, Australian National Airways and Ansett Australia to Brisbane, however it wasn't until the mid-1960s that airport growth really accelerated.
• On 15 November 2011, Air North announced plans to commence services between Townsville & Darwin.

Facts about Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX):

• Santa Maria Public Airport (SMX) has 2 runways.
• 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.
• 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.
• After the war Santa Barbara County and the city of Santa Maria acquired the land and facilities through two grants in 1948.
• 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.
• The extended primary runway at Santa Maria is paved to 8,004 feet, giving the airport the longest civil runway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the central coast and Vandenberg AFB's runway are longer).