Wake Island Airfield guide

Wake Island Airfield sits on Wake Island, a three-islet atoll in the central Pacific. It is a US Air Force installation, and landing needs prior permission requested at least 24 hours ahead. Operations are very limited, and the field is used mainly for military and charter flights, and for emergency landings.

The site began as a Pan American Airways seaplane base. Pan American chose the atoll in 1935 as a stop on its route to the Far East, and the first aircraft landed there on 9 August 1935. The Navy started building a land runway in late 1940. Japan held the island from the 1941 battle until September 1945, and the airfield was then repaired for American use. The Civil Aeronautics Administration, later the FAA, ran airfield operations from 1947 to 1972, and airlines used it as a refuelling stop on transpacific routes until the early 1970s.

The single asphalt runway, 10/28, is 9,844 ft (3,000 m) long and 150 ft wide, with a coral overrun and arresting gear on runway 28. It lies about 7 m above sea level. The runway and support facilities were modernised in 2020 and 2021. Only a few hundred military personnel and contractors are on the island at any time, and there are no permanent residents.