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

Arrival Airport:

Distance from AWK to YAO:
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- About this route
- AWK Airport Information
- YAO Airport Information
- Facts about AWK
- Facts about YAO
- 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 YAO
- List of Nearest Airports to YAO
- Map of Furthest Airports from YAO
- List of Furthest Airports from YAO
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Yaoundé Airport (YAO), Yaoundé, Cameroon would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,110 miles (or 16,271 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 Yaoundé 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 Yaoundé 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: | YAO / FKKY |
Airport Name: | Yaoundé Airport |
Location: | Yaoundé, Cameroon |
GPS Coordinates: | 3°50'9"N by 11°31'23"E |
Operator/Owner: | Cameroon Air Force |
Airport Type: | Public / Military |
Elevation: | 2464 feet (751 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from YAO |
More Information: | YAO Maps & Info |
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.
- 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.
- British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Yaoundé Airport (YAO):
- The furthest airport from Yaoundé Airport (YAO) is Canton Island Airport (CIS), which is nearly antipodal to Yaoundé Airport (meaning Yaoundé Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Canton Island Airport), and is located 12,202 miles (19,638 kilometers) away in Canton Island, Kiribati.
- Yaoundé Airport (YAO) currently has only 1 runway.
- The closest airport to Yaoundé Airport (YAO) is Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport (NSI), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) SSE of YAO.