Nonstop flight route between Columbus, Ohio, United States and Sofia, Bulgaria:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK), Columbus, Ohio, United States and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,114 miles (or 8,230 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 Rickenbacker International 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 Rickenbacker International 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 Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK):

• In August 2001 construction started on a new, consolidated Navy and Marine Corps Air Reserve Center at Rickenbacker International Airport.
• In March 2012 Direct Air suspended operations from the airport.
• Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) is Port Columbus International Airport (CMH), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) N of LCK.
• The United States Air Force maintains a presence in the form of the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing, Rickenbacker International is also home of the Ohio Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility No.
• The furthest airport from Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,363 miles (18,287 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In December 2006 PlanetSpace entered negotiations with the Ohio government to build a spaceport at Rickenbacker.
• Because of Rickenbacker International Airport's relatively low elevation of 744 feet, planes can take off or land at Rickenbacker 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.

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Plovdiv Airport (PDV), which is located 86 miles (138 kilometers) ESE of SOF.
• A lot of consideration has been given to the design of the layout, the functional definition of the working positions, the operations room surface area for ANS provision and meteorological observation, as well as to the requirements for visibility to the runway and the approaches and access to an open observation platform.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• On 31 August 2006, Sofia Airport put its new runway system into operation, replacing the old and out-of-date facilities.
• Lufthansa Technik Sofia was founded in late 2007 as a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and the Bulgarian Aviation Group.
• According to the plan a new Sofia airport terminal was built to the east of the old terminal and a second runway was constructed alongside the existing one.
• Total cost of the project was planned at 200 million euros.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.