Nonstop flight route between Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico and Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport (UPN), Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico and Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,865 miles (or 9,439 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 Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport and Wake Island Airfield, 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 Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport and Wake Island Airfield. 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 Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport (UPN):

• Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport (UPN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport (UPN) is General Francisco Mujica International Airport (MLM), which is located 73 miles (118 kilometers) ENE of UPN.
• The furthest airport from Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport (UPN) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,486 miles (18,485 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport", another name for UPN is "Aeropuerto Internacional de Uruapan".
• Because of Lic. y Gen. Ignacio Lopez Rayon International Airport's high elevation of 5,258 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at UPN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make UPN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• The furthest airport from Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is located 11,652 miles (18,752 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• The first intention to build an air base surfaced in 1935, when Pan American World Airways selected Wake Island as an intermediate support base for their routes to the Far East, especially the Philippines.
• Because of Wake Island Airfield's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Wake Island Airfield 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.
• Another airline that operated into Wake Island was Philippine Airlines with Douglas DC-8 jetliners on a daily westbound service from San Francisco and Honolulu to Manila during the early 1970s.
• From 1935 until 1940, when two typhoons swept Wake with resultant extensive damage to the now elaborately developed Pan American facilities, development and use of the base were steady but uneventful.
• Japan Airlines used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6s in the mid-1950s.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.