Nonstop flight route between Grand Rapids, Minnesota, United States and Sofia, Bulgaria:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ), Grand Rapids, Minnesota, United States and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,130 miles (or 8,255 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 Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna, 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 Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna. 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 Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ):

• The furthest airport from Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,692 miles (17,207 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport", another name for GPZ is "Gordon Newstrom Field".
• Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ) is Range Regional Airport (HIB), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) ENE of GPZ.
• Because of Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport's relatively low elevation of 413 feet, planes can take off or land at Grand Rapids - Itasca County 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.

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.
• By the late 1970s, the terminal was handling in the region of three million passengers a year, a million of them on domestic routes.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• In mid-2012 the airport will have one of the most modern and most beautiful airport towers in Europe.
• The closest airport to Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Plovdiv Airport (PDV), which is located 86 miles (138 kilometers) ESE of SOF.
• The furthest airport from Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,437 miles (18,405 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The passenger terminal building is designed with a capacity of 2,000 peak hour passengers or up to 2.6 million passengers a year, plus 26,000 tonnes of luggage.
• Options for different airport developments began to be examined in the mid-1960s.
• A significant and recurring operational criticism of Sofia Airport has concerned its historical lack of all-weather operations capability.
• On 19 August 2011 in the presence of Ivaylo Moskovski, minister of transport, information technology and communications, the BULATSA director general Diyan Dinev, Glavbolgarstroy AD chief executive director Pavel Kalistratov and Glavbolgarstroy AD executive director and management board member Nina Stoyanova signed the design execution and construction contract between BULATSA and Glavbolgarstroy AD for the new control tower at Sofia Airport.