Nonstop flight route between Berlin, Germany and Okinawa, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW), Berlin, Germany and Naha Airport (OKA), Okinawa, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,729 miles (or 9,219 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 Royal Air Force Station Gatow and Naha 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 Royal Air Force Station Gatow and Naha 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 Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW):

• The airfield is now called General-Steinhoff Kaserne.
• The furthest airport from Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,694 miles (18,819 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The RAF Gatow Station Flight used two De Havilland Chipmunk T10s, one of which is now in the Alliiertenmuseum, to maintain and exercise the British legal right under the Potsdam Agreement to use the airspace over both West and East Berlin, as well as the air corridors to and from West Germany to the city.
• After the Berlin Blockade, RAF Gatow served as an airfield for the British Army's Berlin Infantry Brigade, and was prepared to revert to its role as a supply base, if another Berlin Airlift to West Berlin ever became necessary.
• In November 1948, the latest RAF transport aircraft, the Handley Page Hastings, was added to the squadrons flying into RAF Gatow and some aircrews and aircraft were redeployed to train replacement aircrews.
• Because of Royal Air Force Station Gatow's relatively low elevation of 161 feet, planes can take off or land at Royal Air Force Station Gatow 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 closest airport to Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) is Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NE of GWW.
• Clues to the airfield's original use survive in the barrack block accommodation, each block of which was named after a famous German airman of the First World War, with the airman's bust above the entrance door.
• Royal Air Force Station Gatow (GWW) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Naha Airport (OKA):

• In addition to being known as "Naha Airport", other names for OKA include "那覇空港" and "Naha Kūkō".
• The closest airport to Naha Airport (OKA) is Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) NE of OKA.
• Air America operated interisland flights to Miyako and Ishigaki from 1964 to 1967, when Southwest Airlines took over these routes.
• All Nippon Airways operates an overnight cargo hub at Naha Airport, which receives inbound Boeing 767 freighter flights from key destinations in Japan, China and Southeast Asia between 1 and 4 a.m., followed by return flights between 4 and 6 a.m., allowing overnight service between these regional hubs as well as onward connections to other ANA and partner carrier flights.
• The airport was a popular connecting point between Taipei and Shanghai prior to the opening of direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan.
• Congested Naha Airport served 14,495,054 passengers in FY2006, roughly similar numbers in 2012.
• Naha Airport (OKA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Peach, a low cost carrier based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, announced that it would establish its second hub at Naha in July 2014, which would initially have flights to Osaka, Fukuoka, Ishigaki and Taipei.ANA Holdings, the parent company of both Peach and Vanilla Air, opened a new LCC terminal in a refurbished portion of the airport's cargo area in October 2012, and plans to open new international facilities in October 2014.
• The furthest airport from Naha Airport (OKA) is Paulo Abdala Airport (FBE), which is nearly antipodal to Naha Airport (meaning Naha Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Paulo Abdala Airport), and is located 12,392 miles (19,943 kilometers) away in Francisco Beltrao, Paraná, Brazil.
• Because of Naha Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Naha 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.