Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Beja, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Beja Airport (BYJ), Beja, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,458 miles (or 13,612 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 Wake Island Airfield and Beja 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 Wake Island Airfield and Beja 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 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.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• On 26 December 1940, implementing the Hepburn Board's recommendations, a pioneer party of 80 men and 2,000 short tons of equipment sailed for Wake Island from Oahu.

Facts about Beja Airport (BYJ):

• In addition to being known as "Beja Airport", another name for BYJ is "Aeroporto de Beja".
• In spite of being the only Portuguese airport in Alentejo—the biggest Portuguese region, with an area comparable to the size of Belgium—the airport failed to attract the attention of low-cost carriers and has never had any scheduled regular flights.
• The furthest airport from Beja Airport (BYJ) is New Plymouth Airport (NPL), which is nearly antipodal to Beja Airport (meaning Beja Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from New Plymouth Airport), and is located 12,306 miles (19,804 kilometers) away in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Beja Airport (BYJ) is Portimão Airport (PRM), which is located 73 miles (118 kilometers) SSW of BYJ.
• Beja Airport, located 9 km northwest of Beja, is 150 km away from Lisbon, 120 kilometres from Faro and less than 60 km from Spain.
• Beja Airport (BYJ) has 2 runways.
• Because of Beja Airport's relatively low elevation of 636 feet, planes can take off or land at Beja 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.