Nonstop flight route between Buka Island, Papua New Guinea and Hagåtña, Guam:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Buka Island Airport (BUA), Buka Island, Papua New Guinea and Guam International Airport (GUM), Hagåtña, Guam would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,472 miles (or 2,368 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 relatively short distance between Buka Island Airport and Guam International Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Buka Island Airport (BUA):

• On 26 July, an Imperial Japanese Navy special detachment was sent to inspect Buka Airfield, but considered it unacceptable as a prospect for a speedily constructed major airfield.
• Because of Buka Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Buka Island 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.
• Buka Island Airport (BUA) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 13 May 1943 Allied reconnaissance observed 36 fighters and 6 bombers at the airstrip.
• Today the airport is the primary air portal into Bougainville, and even 60 years after the war, wreckage from the military use of the airfield by the Japanese and Americans is easily found in the area.
• The closest airport to Buka Island Airport (BUA) is Nissan Island Airport (IIS), which is located 71 miles (114 kilometers) NNW of BUA.
• The furthest airport from Buka Island Airport (BUA) is São Filipe Airport (SFL), which is located 11,781 miles (18,959 kilometers) away in Fogo, Cape Verde.
• In January 1944, the Allies drove the Japanese out of Buka, and the airfield was used for operations against the Japanese over New Guinea.

Facts about Guam International Airport (GUM):

• Because of Guam International Airport's relatively low elevation of 297 feet, planes can take off or land at Guam 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 furthest airport from Guam International Airport (GUM) is Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho) (SSA), which is nearly antipodal to Guam International Airport (meaning Guam International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (2 de Julho)), and is located 12,223 miles (19,671 kilometers) away in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
• A new passenger terminal building was opened in 1982, and the current, much larger terminal building was opened in phases between 1996 and 1998.
• For a comprehensive list of all accidents relating to Guam, visit the Aviation Safety Network database by linking to it from the external links section below.
• Since all flights require customs or immigration inspection, the airport's post-security concourse and gate area was not designed to separate arriving and departing passengers.
• Guam International Airport (GUM) has 2 runways.
• The old terminal served as the corporate headquarters of Continental Micronesia until late 2010.
• Since Guam is outside the United States customs jurisdiction, passengers from all arrival flights go through GCQA inspection.
• The closest airport to Guam International Airport (GUM) is Andersen Air Force Base (UAM), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) NE of GUM.
• Guam International Airport handled 2,807,205 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Guam International Airport", another name for GUM is "Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport".