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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Rochester International Airport (RST), Rochester, Minnesota, United States and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,263 miles (or 8,471 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 Rochester 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 Rochester 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 Rochester International Airport (RST):

• In 1940, the existing runways were paved, and additional land was acquired, bringing the airport's total area to 370 acres.
• Airport directors from the airport are attempting to get more air service into Rochester.
• The furthest airport from Rochester International Airport (RST) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,811 miles (17,399 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• A five passenger plane en route to Rochester crashed in Lake Michigan, killing the four passengers, but the pilot did survive.
• The closest airport to Rochester International Airport (RST) is Austin Municipal Airport (AUM), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) SW of RST.
• Rochester International Airport (RST) has 2 runways.

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• Service life of the new airport control tower will be more than 40 years and is designed to serve the airport with a possible extension.
• 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 Government terminal is located in the western side of Sofia Airport.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• During the Second World War, the facilities were used by the military.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• On 31 August 2006, Sofia Airport put its new runway system into operation, replacing the old and out-of-date facilities.
• The terminal had substantially reached its capacity of some 600,000 passengers a year by the later 1960s and was subjected to a number of refurbishments and extensions beginning in the spring of 1968.
• 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.
• Total cost of the project was planned at 200 million euros.
• 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.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.