Nonstop flight route between Sofia, Bulgaria and Istanbul, Turkey:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria and Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST), Istanbul, Turkey would travel a Great Circle distance of 302 miles (or 487 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 relatively short distance between Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna and Istanbul Atatürk Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• A significant and recurring operational criticism of Sofia Airport has concerned its historical lack of all-weather operations capability.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• Design and construction of a new control tower was discussed in 2006 but this project appeared to be in abeyance by 2008.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• 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.
• On 31 August 2006, Sofia Airport put its new runway system into operation, replacing the old and out-of-date facilities.

Facts about Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST):

• The airport terminals have been operated by TAV since January 2000.
• Because of Istanbul Atatürk Airport's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at Istanbul Atatürk 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 Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST) is İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) ESE of IST.
• Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST) has 3 runways.
• In the 2013 Air Transport News awards ceremony, İstanbul Atatürk Airport was named Airport of the Year.
• Istanbul Atatürk Airport is the main international airport serving Istanbul, Turkey and the biggest airport in Turkey by total number of passengers.
• In addition to being known as "Istanbul Atatürk Airport", another name for IST is "İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı".
• The Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists Atatürk International Airport as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects completed in the first 50 years of the chamber's existence.
• A third big airport is being planned in order to meet Istanbul's growing domestic and international air traffic demand as a source, destination and transit point.
• The furthest airport from Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,155 miles (17,953 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• Atatürk Airport still faces capacity issues.