Nonstop flight route between Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia and Sofia, Bulgaria:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Port Macquarie Airport (PQQ), Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,589 miles (or 15,431 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 Port Macquarie 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 Port Macquarie 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 Port Macquarie Airport (PQQ):

• Port Macquarie Airport handled 218,897 passengers last year.
• Port Macquarie Airport (PQQ) has 2 runways.
• Connections to Brisbane by Brindabella Airlines ceased 31 December 2010, citing poor loads on the route.
• The closest airport to Port Macquarie Airport (PQQ) is Kempsey Airport (KPS), which is located 26 miles (41 kilometers) NNW of PQQ.
• The furthest airport from Port Macquarie Airport (PQQ) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is nearly antipodal to Port Macquarie Airport (meaning Port Macquarie Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Maria Airport), and is located 12,038 miles (19,373 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• Because of Port Macquarie Airport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at Port Macquarie 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.
• On 28 July 2011, Virgin Australia announced its intention to commence a daily Brisbane to Port Macquarie service from October 2011.

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (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.
• During the Second World War, the facilities were used by the military.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• In mid-2012 the airport will have one of the most modern and most beautiful airport towers in Europe.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Terminal 2 was officially opened on 27 December 2006 with the symbolic arrival of Bulgaria Air flight FB 408 from Brussels.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• 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.
• A significant and recurring operational criticism of Sofia Airport has concerned its historical lack of all-weather operations capability.
• In 2004 Strabag demanded an additional 6 million euro due to rising steel prices.