Nonstop flight route between Gander, Newfoundland, Canada and San José, Costa Rica:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gander International Airport (YQX), Gander, Newfoundland, Canada and Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO), San José, Costa Rica would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,187 miles (or 5,129 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 Gander International Airport and Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO), 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 Gander International Airport and Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO). 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 Gander International Airport (YQX):

• A major reason that Gander received so much traffic was partly due to its ability to handle large aircraft, but primarily because Transport Canada and Nav Canada instructed pilots coming from Europe to avoid the airports in major urban centres of Central Canada, like Lester B.
• The closest airport to Gander International Airport (YQX) is St. John's International Airport (YYT), which is located 124 miles (199 kilometers) SE of YQX.
• In March 2010, Sun Country Airlines announced that it would use Gander as a refueling stop for its new summer 2010 service between Minneapolis and London Stansted Airport and for its summer 2011 service between Minneapolis and London Gatwick Airport.
• Gander International Airport (YQX) has 2 runways.
• With the advent of jets with longer range in the 1960s most flights no longer needed to refuel.
• Following Newfoundland's entry into Confederation, the government renamed the airport Gander Airport and it came under the administration of Canada's federal Department of Transport.
• During the Cold War Gander was notable for the number of persons from the former Warsaw Pact nations who defected there.
• The furthest airport from Gander International Airport (YQX) is Albany Airport (ALH), which is located 11,395 miles (18,338 kilometers) away in Albany, Western Australia, Australia.
• To honour the people of Gander and Halifax for their support during the operation, Lufthansa named a new Airbus A340-300 "Gander/Halifax" on May 16, 2002.
• Because of Gander International Airport's relatively low elevation of 496 feet, planes can take off or land at Gander 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.

Facts about Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO):

• The furthest airport from Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (meaning Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,270 miles (19,746 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• The closest airport to Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO) is Tobías Bolaños International Airport (SYQ), which is located only 5 miles (9 kilometers) ESE of SJO.
• Juan Santamaría International Airport is the primary airport serving San José, the capital of Costa Rica.
• No major changes were made to the terminal until November 1997 when the government issued a decree requesting participation of private companies to manage the operations of the airport.
• In addition to being known as "Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)", another name for SJO is "Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría".
• Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) (SJO) currently has only 1 runway.
• Aircraft at the terminal
• Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) handled 4,257,606 passengers last year.
• Check-in counters in the main terminal
• Gates 4 and 5 at the mid passenger terminal