The circumference.
If talking in terms of the shortest distance around a sphere, the answer is NO.
A great circle is any circle on the surface of a sphere whose center is at the center of the sphere. The shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere is a part of the great circle that passes through them.
A great circle
This imaginary line is called the great circle. A great circle is the shortest distance between two point on a sphere. On a flat map the great circle route takes the shape of the arc of a circle due to the projection method used to fit the path on the earth's sphere to a flat surface.
-- The 'great circle' route is the shortest distance between any two places on Earth (or on any other sphere). -- A great circle is a circle on the surface whose center is at the center of the Earth. -- The phrase "around the globe" is really not too clear.
A 'great circle' is any circle on the surface of a sphere that has its center at the center of the sphere. The equator is the only parallel of latitude that's a great circle. Every meridian of constant longitude is a semi-circle, and together with the one directly opposite it, they form a great circle. The shortest distance between two points on a sphere is the piece of the great circle through them.
A straight route is the path taken in a straight line while the shortest distance between two points on a circle is known as the great circle route. However, while travelling the great circle around the globe, the path ahead will look like the straight route.
... is called a Great Circle arc.
The answer lies in Non-Euclidean geometry (spherical geometry). Florida, the Philippines, and Alaska are three collinear points on a great circle, a great circle is the equivalent to a line in Euclidean(2-D) geometry. A great circle is also classified as the shortest distance from one point to another around a circle. Because the earth is round, the distance seen on a flat map is a lot further than the distance on a globe, due to distortion. Therefore, following the great circle that goes through the three collinear points of Florida, the Philippines, and Alaska, it is a shorter distance to fly over Alaska
Every so-called "great circle" is (more or less) the longest circumference of the Earth that includes any two points. The great circle includes the shortest distance between the two points for travel along the Earth's surface.
The great-circle distance from Taipei, Taiwan to Nashville Tennessee is 12748.5 kilometers (7921.5 miles). The halfway point on the great-circle route is located on the Chukchi peninsula in Russia.
The great circle distance between the airports (DEL-HEL) is 5229km.