Nonstop flight route between Sofia, Bulgaria and Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria and Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU), Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,130 miles (or 8,255 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 Raleigh–Durham 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 Raleigh–Durham 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):

• In 2004 Strabag demanded an additional 6 million euro due to rising steel prices.
• 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.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• 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 new tower was officially opened on 7 December 2012.
• Two de-icing platforms are constructed to allow centralised de-icing procedures in winter.
• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• 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.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU):

• Delta Air Lines has increased operations since 2010, with resumed nonstop service to Los Angeles in June 2010, followed by new nonstop service to Columbus, Fort Myers, Hartford, Miami, Orlando, St.
• The closest airport to Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) is Triangle North Executive Airport (Franklin County Airport) (LFN), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) ENE of RDU.
• The furthest airport from Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,639 miles (18,731 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In 2010 RDU's traffic began to recover.
• Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) has 3 runways.
• American Airlines built a terminal at RDU between 1985 and 1987 to house a new hub operation, and offered service to 38 cities at the hub's outset in June 1987.
• In the 1970s, the last decade before airline deregulation, Piedmont connected RDU to Charlotte, Greensboro, New Bern, Norfolk, Richmond, Rocky Mount, Washington, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.
• Because of Raleigh–Durham International Airport's relatively low elevation of 435 feet, planes can take off or land at Raleigh–Durham 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.
• Terminal A was renamed Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008 to bring RDU in line with terminal naming conventions and to end years of confusion.