Nonstop flight route between Whangarei, New Zealand and Santa Barbara, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Whangarei Airport (WRE), Whangarei, New Zealand and Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,440 miles (or 10,365 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 Whangarei Airport and Santa Barbara 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 Whangarei Airport and Santa Barbara 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 Whangarei Airport (WRE):

• The closest airport to Whangarei Airport (WRE) is Dargaville Aerodrome (DGR), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) WSW of WRE.
• On 2 July 2010, a Cessna 172 leased by Skydive Ballistic Blondes crashed onto Church St at the beginning of runway 24 due to an engine failure on approach.
• The change in aircraft type restored capacity to 136,656 seats available on Air New Zealand per year.
• Whangarei District Airport no longer has an Aero Club due to a drop in membership and private flying.
• Whangarei Aerodrome is a small airport 4NM to the south east of Whangarei city, in the suburb of Onerahi, on the east coast of Northland on the North Island, New Zealand.
• Because of Whangarei Airport's relatively low elevation of 133 feet, planes can take off or land at Whangarei 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 Whangarei District Council approved an upgrade of the main runway and this was completed in April 2009.
• The furthest airport from Whangarei Airport (WRE) is Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport (TNG), which is nearly antipodal to Whangarei Airport (meaning Whangarei Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport), and is located 12,421 miles (19,989 kilometers) away in Tangier, Morocco.
• Ansett went into liquidation in 2001, and this resulted in Air New Zealand's subsidary Eagle Airways being the only major airline operating out of the airport.
• Whangarei Airport (WRE) has 2 runways.
• The 1970s saw an increase in domestic travel from Whangarei, so a new airport terminal was built on the northern side of the main runway to cater for this.

Facts about Santa Barbara Airport (SBA):

• Because of Santa Barbara Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Barbara 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.
• Until 2002 Santa Barbara Airport was on a mainline jet aircraft route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• The furthest airport from Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,487 miles (18,486 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Five airlines serve the Airport as of July 2013 with non-stop flights to Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma.
• Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) has 3 runways.
• As airplane manufacturing grew in the late 1930s that airstrip developed into an airfield.
• The closest airport to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is Santa Ynez Airport (SQA), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) NW of SBA.