Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,027 miles (or 6,480 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 Tân Sơn Nhất International 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 Tân Sơn Nhất International 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):

• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN):

• The Prime Minister of Vietnam, by Decision 1646/TTg-NN, has approved the addition of 30 hectares of adjacent area to extend the apron and to build a cargo terminal to handle the rapid increase of passenger and cargo volume at the airport.
• The furthest airport from Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) is Jauja AirportFrancisco Carle Airport (JAU), which is nearly antipodal to Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (meaning Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Jauja AirportFrancisco Carle Airport), and is located 12,278 miles (19,760 kilometers) away in Jauja, Peru.
• Long Thanh International Airport will be constructed on an area of 50 square kilometers, and will have four runways and be capable of receiving the Airbus A380.
• In addition to being known as "Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport", another name for SGN is "Sân bay Quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất".
• Following a recent decision by the Vietnamese Prime Minister, a new airport—Long Thanh International Airport—will replace Tan Son Nhat airport for international departure use.
• Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) has 2 runways.
• Because of Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport's relatively low elevation of 33 feet, planes can take off or land at Tân Sơn Nhất 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.
• Tan Son Nhat International Airport has its origins in the early 1930s, when the French colonial government constructed a small airport with unpaved runways, known as Tân Sơn Nhất Airfield near the village of Tan Son Nhat.
• The closest airport to Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) is Vung Tau Airport (VTG), which is located 43 miles (69 kilometers) SE of SGN.
• A new international terminal funded by Japanese official development assistance and constructed by a consortium of four Japanese contractors, opened in September 2007 with a capacity for 12 million passengers a year.