Nonstop flight route between Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa and Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa and Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,754 miles (or 15,698 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 O. R. Tambo International 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 O. R. Tambo International 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 O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB):

• The airport was founded in 1952 as "Jan Smuts Airport", two years after his death, near the town of Kempton Park on the East Rand.
• Five bus city lines, operated by Metrobus and Putco, pass through the airport twice a day.
• In addition to being known as "O. R. Tambo International Airport", another name for JNB is "Johannesburg International Airport".
• It was used as a test airport for the Concorde during the 1970s, to determine how the aircraft would perform while taking off and landing at high altitude.
• The closest airport to O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Rand Airport (QRA), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) SW of JNB.
• Because of O. R. Tambo International Airport's high elevation of 5,558 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JNB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JNB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,979 miles (19,279 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• O. R. Tambo International Airport handled 18,794,897 passengers last year.
• On 10 January 2013 the airport's ICAO code was changed from FAJS to FAOR.

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• From 1935 until 1940, when two typhoons swept Wake with resultant extensive damage to the now elaborately developed Pan American facilities, development and use of the base were steady but uneventful.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.