Nonstop flight route between Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Salgado Filho International Airport (POA), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,963 miles (or 16,033 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 Salgado Filho 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 Salgado Filho 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 Salgado Filho International Airport (POA):

• In 2012 the airport was ranked 9th in terms of transported passengers in Brazil, placing it amongst the busiest airports in the country.
• Salgado Filho International Airport (POA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Salgado Filho International Airport is the airport serving Porto Alegre, Brazil.
• Salgado Filho was originally called São João Federal Airport, after the neighborhood where it is located.
• In 1932, needing a facility to use its aircraft with landing-gear which were replacing its seaplanes, Varig started using São João Airport as its operational base.
• However, in order to cope with the increasing passenger traffic at the airport, on September 8, 2010 a decision was made to renovate Terminal 2 and bring it back into passenger use.
• Because of Salgado Filho International Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Salgado Filho 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 closest airport to Salgado Filho International Airport (POA) is Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport (CCM), which is located 137 miles (221 kilometers) NE of POA.
• The furthest airport from Salgado Filho International Airport (POA) is Yakushima Airport (KUM), which is nearly antipodal to Salgado Filho International Airport (meaning Salgado Filho International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Yakushima Airport), and is located 12,324 miles (19,834 kilometers) away in Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
• The total area of the Salgado Filho Airport is about 3,805,810.04 m² with 142,750 m² of ramp area.
• Terminals 1 and 2 have taxi services.
• In addition to being known as "Salgado Filho International Airport", another name for POA is "Aeroporto Internacional Salgado Filho".

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• 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.
• 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.
• Another airline that operated into Wake Island was Philippine Airlines with Douglas DC-8 jetliners on a daily westbound service from San Francisco and Honolulu to Manila during the early 1970s.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• 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.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• On 31 August 2006, the super typhoon Ioke struck Wake Island.