Nonstop flight route between Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Michigan, 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 Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO), Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Michigan, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,243 miles (or 11,657 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 Kalamazoo/Battle Creek 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō and Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International 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):

• Kadena Air Base's history dates back to just before the 1 April 1945, Battle of Okinawa, when a local construction firm completed a small airfield named Yara Hikojo near the island's village of Kadena.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō", another name for DNA is "Kadena AFB".
• Twentieth Air Force was inactivated in March 1955.
• 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 McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II replaced the RF-101 in the reconnaissance role in 1967.
• What the Americans captured was a 4,600 feet strip of badly-damaged coral runway.

Facts about Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO):

• The Western Michigan University College of Aviation, founded in 1939, used the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport as a base for its flight school until 1997.
• Present-day taxiways delta and alpha were originally runways.
• As of March 2014, Air Traffic Control services for aircraft operating within the lateral and vertical limits of the Kalamazoo TRACON are being provided from a new ATC facility located at the east side of the airport.
• The closest airport to Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO) is W. K. Kellogg Airport (BTL), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) ENE of AZO.
• The original Kalamazoo terminal was a small building made with scrap materials left over from other local projects.
• Because of Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport's relatively low elevation of 874 feet, planes can take off or land at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek 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 Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,180 miles (17,993 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The airport is currently served by two commercial passenger airlines which operate service to three hubs.
• Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO) has 3 runways.
• In 1982 the Core Council decided that the City of Kalamazoo should no longer bear the full cost of operating the airport, and in 1984, the City transferred ownership to the County of Kalamazoo.
• In 1955 the Kalamazoo-based Upjohn pharmaceutical company began operating aircraft for its executives from the airport.
• On March 13, 2012, Direct Air suspended all their flights until May 15 because their fuel supplier stopped supplying fuel.
• As of May 2012 the airport is served by two major commercial airlines who fly passengers to three major hubs.