The runway can be used for emergency landings by commercial jetliners flying transpacific routes and has been used in the past by airlines operating jet, turboprop, and prop aircraft on scheduled flights.

A year prior, jurisdiction over Wake Island was passed to the Navy Department, which cooperated with PAA in updating topographical surveys, due to the potential military value of having a suitable mid-Pacific air base.

On 26 December 1940, implementing the Hepburn Board's recommendations, a pioneer party of 80 men and 2,000 short tons (1,800 t) of equipment sailed for Wake Island from Oahu.

[2] In 1950, Wake Island was a stop on Pan Am's round-the-world service between San Francisco and New York City, with the airline operating double-decker Boeing 377 Stratocruiser propliners into the airfield.

[2] By 1969, Wake Island was a scheduled stop on a round trip transpacific flight operated by Pan Am between San Francisco and Saigon in the former country of South Vietnam.

The Pan Am 707 jet freighter operated continuing all cargo service westbound from Wake Island to Guam, Tokyo, Saigon, and Hong Kong.

[2] Japan Airlines (JAL) used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service flown with Douglas DC-6 prop aircraft in the mid-1950s.

During the late 1950s, BOAC operated Bristol Britannia turboprop aircraft on their twice-a-week westbound service between the U.K. and Asia via the U.S.[8] The routing of these flights was London-New York-San Francisco-Honolulu-Wake Island-Tokyo-Hong Kong.

Members of the 36th Contingency Response Group at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam were estimating large costs to repair the airfield facility.

On 8 September 2006, 16 members of the Group arrived at Wake to make the initial assessments and found that the runway and taxiways were still in an acceptable operational condition, with just a requirement to clear debris.

[14][15] As of 2018, four active duty Air Force airmen and around 100 contractors were stationed at Wake Island, supporting refueling stops and missile defense system development and testing.