Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Queenstown, New Zealand:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from AWK to ZQN:
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- About this route
- AWK Airport Information
- ZQN Airport Information
- Facts about AWK
- Facts about ZQN
- 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 ZQN
- List of Nearest Airports to ZQN
- Map of Furthest Airports from ZQN
- List of Furthest Airports from ZQN
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Queenstown Airport (ZQN), Queenstown, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,445 miles (or 7,153 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 Queenstown 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 Queenstown 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: | ZQN / NZQN |
Airport Name: | Queenstown Airport |
Location: | Queenstown, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 45°1'15"S by 168°44'21"E |
Operator/Owner: | Queenstown Airport Corporation Ltd. |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 1171 feet (357 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from ZQN |
More Information: | ZQN Maps & Info |
Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):
- 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.
- British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.
- Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
- 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.
- 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 Queenstown Airport (ZQN):
- The closest airport to Queenstown Airport (ZQN) is Wanaka Airport (WKA), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) NE of ZQN.
- The furthest airport from Queenstown Airport (ZQN) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Queenstown Airport (meaning Queenstown Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,251 miles (19,716 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
- A regular scenic route between Queenstown and Milford Sound was first established by Southern Scenic Air Services Ltd in August 1951.
- In another separate incident in June 2010 two airliners were found to have had a high potential to have breached the 1000 foot vertical separation required.
- Queenstown Airport (ZQN) has 2 runways.