Nonstop flight route between Pituffik, Greenland and Sofia, Bulgaria:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland and Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,401 miles (or 5,473 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 Thule Air Base 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 Thule Air Base 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 Thule Air Base (THU):

• A cluster of huts known as Pituffik stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
• There is only a brief period each year in the summer when sea ice thins sufficiently to send supply ships to the base.
• In 1818, Sir John Ross’s expedition made first contact with nomadic Polar Eskimos in the area.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".

Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):

• In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
• The new Sofia tower will be situated to the west of Terminal 2 and will be complementing the terminal building in architectural terms.
• 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.
• The airport was initially built in the late 1930s on a site 6.3 km by road then.
• Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.
• The infrastructure surrounding the building was expected to be completed in 2007.
• The closest airport to Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Plovdiv Airport (PDV), which is located 86 miles (138 kilometers) ESE of SOF.
• The initial completion deadline for the new terminal was 15 December 2004 to a total budget of 112.2 million euro.
• By the late 1970s, the terminal was handling in the region of three million passengers a year, a million of them on domestic routes.
• 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.