Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Tampa, Florida, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from AWK to TPA:
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- About this route
- AWK Airport Information
- TPA Airport Information
- Facts about AWK
- Facts about TPA
- Map of Nearest Airports to AWK
- List of Nearest Airports to AWK
- Map of Furthest Airports from AWK
- List of Furthest Airports from AWK
- Map of Nearest Airports to TPA
- List of Nearest Airports to TPA
- Map of Furthest Airports from TPA
- List of Furthest Airports from TPA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Tampa International Airport (TPA), Tampa, Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,781 miles (or 10,912 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 Tampa 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 Tampa International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | AWK / PWAK |
Airport Name: | Wake Island Airfield |
Location: | Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands |
GPS Coordinates: | 19°16'56"N by 166°38'12"E |
Operator/Owner: | U.S. Air Force |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 23 feet (7 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from AWK |
More Information: | AWK Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | TPA / KTPA |
Airport Name: | Tampa International Airport |
Location: | Tampa, Florida, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 27°58'32"N by 82°31'59"W |
Area Served: | Tampa, Florida |
Operator/Owner: | Hillsborough County |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 26 feet (8 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from TPA |
More Information: | TPA Maps & Info |
Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):
- 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.
- 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.
- On 31 August 2006, the super typhoon Ioke struck Wake Island.
- The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Facts about Tampa International Airport (TPA):
- The furthest airport from Tampa International Airport (TPA) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,435 miles (18,403 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
- The airport's people mover system was the first such system in the world.
- Because of Tampa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 26 feet, planes can take off or land at Tampa 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.
- The closest airport to Tampa International Airport (TPA) is Peter O. Knight Airport (TPF), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) SE of TPA.
- Tampa International Airport (TPA) has 3 runways.
- Below is a brief description of the four original airsides and the airlines that occupied them throughout the years.
- There has been a propensity in local Tampa Bay area news media outlets and other business and governmental entities in the Tampa Bay region outside of the professional aviation community to refer to the airport as "TIA" versus the airport's actual airport code of "TPA" in either reporting or reference.