Nonstop flight route between Gamba, Gabon and Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gamba Airport (GAX), Gamba, Gabon and Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,487 miles (or 16,878 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 Gamba Airport and Wake Island Airfield, 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 Gamba Airport and Wake Island Airfield. 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 Gamba Airport (GAX):

• The closest airport to Gamba Airport (GAX) is Mouila Airport (MJL), which is located 95 miles (153 kilometers) NE of GAX.
• The furthest airport from Gamba Airport (GAX) is Canton Island Airport (CIS), which is nearly antipodal to Gamba Airport (meaning Gamba Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Canton Island Airport), and is located 12,034 miles (19,366 kilometers) away in Canton Island, Kiribati.

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• Wake Island Airfield is a military airport located on Wake Island, which is known for the Battle of Wake Island.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Japan Airlines used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6s in the mid-1950s.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of 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.
• Between 5 and 29 May 1935, Pan American's air base construction vessel, North Haven, landed supplies and equipment on Wilkes Island for eventual rehandling to Peale Island which, because of its more suitable soil and geology, had been selected as site for the PAA seaplane base.
• 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.
• On 31 August 2006, the super typhoon Ioke struck Wake Island.