Nonstop flight route between Matthew Town, Great Inagua Island, Bahamas and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Inagua Airport (IGA), Matthew Town, Great Inagua Island, Bahamas and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,938 miles (or 9,556 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 Inagua Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Inagua Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Inagua Airport (IGA):

• The closest airport to Inagua Airport (IGA) is Gustavo Rizo Airport (BCA), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) SW of IGA.
• Because of Inagua Airport's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at Inagua 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.
• Inagua Airport (IGA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Inagua Airport (IGA) is RAAF Learmonth (LEA), which is located 11,931 miles (19,201 kilometers) away in Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Inagua Airport", another name for IGA is "Matthew Town Airport".

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• The aerial photos taken on the raid showed the Japanese were building up forces in the area, transferring aircraft presumably from air bases on Hokkaido.
• On 1 April 1995, Eareckson AS was converted to contractor operations and maintenance, providing all support on the island.
• On 6 April 1993, Shemya Air Force Base was renamed Eareckson Air Station.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• In 1958, the Air Force resumed operations on Shemya in support of various Air Force and Army strategic intelligence collection activities.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.