Nonstop flight route between Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Bucharest, Romania:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE), Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (BBU), Bucharest, Romania would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,722 miles (or 9,208 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport, 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport. 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE):

• The airport includes a 24-hour airport rescue and fire-fighting department, facilities, operations, engineering, security, and administrative personnel.
• St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) has 4 runways.
• The furthest airport from St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,426 miles (18,388 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• Also, the airport recently completed a US$22 million renovation, including, among other things, expanding the gate sizes, new plumbing, and building loading bridges, as the current system requires all passengers to walk across the tarmac to the gate.
• Because of its lesser pace of operations, PIE is frequently used instead of TPA as a destination airport by pilots of private planes and executive jets for access to the Tampa Bay Area.
• This historic event marked the beginning of commercial air transportation anywhere in the world and is commemorated by a replica of the Benoist aircraft and a plaque at the airport terminal baggage claim area.
• Because of St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Pete–Clearwater 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.
• The closest airport to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Clearwater Air Park (CLW), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NW of PIE.
• The airport uses "Tampa Bay The Easy Way" as an advertising slogan and Fly2PIE in reference to its three-letter IATA and FAA codes.

Facts about Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (BBU):

• The closest airport to Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (BBU) is Bucharest Henri Coandǎ International Airport (OTP), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) N of BBU.
• The building is a late 1940s design, and was not built to cope with more than 600,000 passengers per year and departures every 25 minutes.
• Because of Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport's relatively low elevation of 299 feet, planes can take off or land at Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu 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.
• In addition to being known as "Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport", another name for BBU is "Aeroportul Internaţional Bucureşti Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu".
• In 2007 the airport was closed from 10 May to 19 August for renovation works.
• Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (BBU) currently has only 1 runway.
• From as low as 20 to 30 passengers per month in 2001–2002, BBU handled 119,000 passengers in 2004, and 2,398,911 passengers in 2011.
• Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport handled 6,036 passengers last year.
• Until March 2012, when it was converted into a business airport, Aurel Vlaicu International was the second airport in Romania in terms of air traffic, and Bucharest's low-cost hub.
• The airport is situated 8 km north of Bucharest city centre and is accessible by RATB buses 131, 335 and Airport Express 783, RATB tramway 5 and taxi.
• The first flights in the Băneasa area took place in 1909 and they were carried out by the French pilot and aviation pioneer Louis Blériot.
• The furthest airport from Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (BBU) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,321 miles (18,219 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.