Nonstop flight route between Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Aspen, Colorado, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA), Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Aspen–Pitkin County Airport (ASE), Aspen, Colorado, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,699 miles (or 10,781 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō and Aspen–Pitkin County 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō and Aspen–Pitkin County 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA):

• The McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II replaced the RF-101 in the reconnaissance role in 1967.
• The furthest airport from Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Paulo Abdala Airport (FBE), which is nearly antipodal to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (meaning Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Paulo Abdala Airport), and is located 12,381 miles (19,926 kilometers) away in Francisco Beltrao, Paraná, Brazil.
• Twentieth Air Force was inactivated in March 1955.
• In addition to being known as "Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō", another name for DNA is "Kadena AFB".
• The closest airport to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Naha Airport (OKA), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SW of DNA.
• The surrender of Japanese forces in the Ryukyu Islands came on 7 September.
• On 7 June 1946, Headquarters Eighth Air Force moved without personnel or equipment to MacDill AAF, Florida.

Facts about Aspen–Pitkin County Airport (ASE):

• In addition to being known as "Aspen–Pitkin County Airport", another name for ASE is "Sardy Field".
• Aspen–Pitkin Co./Sardy Field covers an area of 573 acres at an elevation of 7,820 feet above mean sea level.
• The airport is also conducting an update of its 2004 Airport Master Plan.
• Before initiating jet service, Aspen operated Convair 580 turboprops as well as other prop and turboprop aircraft.
• The closest airport to Aspen–Pitkin County Airport (ASE) is Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) N of ASE.
• Mesaba Airlines operating as Northwest Airlink flew the Avro RJ85, a later version of the BAe 146 jet, on seasonal nonstop flights to Minneapolis/St.
• On April 4, 2011, the airport began a $15.5 million runway extension project which added 1,000 feet of runway length to the existing 7,006' long runway.
• The furthest airport from Aspen–Pitkin County Airport (ASE) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,971 miles (17,657 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Because of Aspen–Pitkin County Airport's high elevation of 7,820 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at ASE. Combined with a high temperature, this could make ASE a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• In 2007, the runway was completely rehabilitated with new grooved asphalt.
• Aspen–Pitkin County Airport (ASE) currently has only 1 runway.