Nonstop flight route between Sofia, Bulgaria and Chicago, Illinois, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria and Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,198 miles (or 8,365 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 Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna and Chicago O'Hare 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 Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna and Chicago O'Hare 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 Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• 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.
• The manager will have full visibility over the airport, to guide aircraft landing and taking off.
• Two de-icing platforms are constructed to allow centralised de-icing procedures in winter.
• The initial completion deadline for the new terminal was 15 December 2004 to a total budget of 112.2 million euro.
• The new tower is an extremely important facility for both ATC and the airport because it is related to the safety and security of flights, explained by the transport department.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• 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, sometimes also called Sofia-Vrazhdebna Airport, is the main airport of Bulgaria.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.

Facts about Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD):

• United Airlines is the largest airline at O'Hare, carrying over 45% of all passengers passing through the airport.
• Ground was broken for the main terminal complex April 1, 1959.
• Concourses B and C are linear concourses located in separate buildings parallel to each other.
• Because of Chicago O'Hare International Airport's relatively low elevation of 668 feet, planes can take off or land at Chicago O'Hare 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 original Douglas Aircraft C-54 Skymaster transport manufacturing plant on the northeast side of the airport became a United States Air Force Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve facility after World War II.
• Due to the construction of Terminal 1 for United, international flights were relocated to a temporary Terminal 4 from 1984 until 1993.
• The furthest airport from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,071 miles (17,817 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) N of ORD.
• Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) has 8 runways.
• Delta moved from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 in 2009 in order to align its operations with merger partner Northwest Airlines.
• Until 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport in number of takeoffs and landings.