SOF · Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia Airport.
--:--:-- · EEST (UTC+03:00) · 42.6964° N, 23.4177° E
Sofia Airport
International airport in Bulgaria
Verification trail
Source-backed facts for SOF
This section separates stable airport identifiers from live operating data. Codes, coordinates, timezone, elevation, source identifiers, and accepted reference links are retained here; live arrivals, departures, gates, delays, NOTAMs, and airline schedule changes must still be checked with the airport or carrier.
Airport catalog
OurAirports ID 3977; ident LBSF; scheduled service listed.
Cached airports.csv snapshot: 2026-04-25; runways.csv snapshot: 2026-05-21.
Official airport source
sofia-airport.bg
Used as the preferred live-reference handoff for terminals, gates, alerts, and airport notices.
Open sourceReference summary
Sofia Airport
Airport-shaped reference summary from en.wikipedia.org; summary snapshot 2026-05-20.
Open sourceManual / derived signals
22 source-backed signals
Merged from OurAirports cached airports.csv, OurAirports cached runways.csv, Wikidata airport entity snapshot, airport-shaped Wikipedia summary snapshot; facts generated 2026-05-21.
IATA / ICAO
SOF / LBSF
OurAirports ident
LBSF
GPS / local code
LBSF
ISO region
BG-22
Scheduled service
Listed in source snapshot
Role
large scheduled-service airport
Official host
sofia-airport.bg
Reference host
en.wikipedia.org
Wikidata entity
Q7942651
Snapshot generated
2026-05-21
Airport lookup keys
Stable codes
Regional keys
Alternate names
Nearby airport codes
Route reference codes
Accepted citation URLs
Last updated May 21, 2026. Stable airport identifiers and timezone facts are content-reviewed; clocks render live in the browser, while weather and time-difference notes are page-snapshot aids rather than permanent airport records.
Live values rendered at Nov 5, 8:16 PM UTC.
What you need to know now
Local airport time
--:--:--EEST · UTC+03:00
Time zone
EEST
Europe/Sofia · UTC+03:00
Airfield conditions
Live airport weather is temporarily unavailable.
Surface access
7.6 km
Approximate distance to central Sofia.
Airport Snapshot
Country capital
Sofia
Languages
Bulgarian
Currency
BGN (лв)
Country area
110,879 km²
Passenger volume
8 million passengers
Terminals
Not clearly stated
Runways
1 runway
Longest runway
11,811 ft / 3,600 m
Runway surface
asphalt
Opened / operator
1935 · Bulgarian Air Force
Owner / entity
Q7942651
Hub airlines
BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter
Airport role
large scheduled-service airport
Scheduled service
Listed
Fact coverage
22 source-backed signals
Sofia Airport is a large scheduled-service airport for Sofia, Bulgaria. Sofia's built-up core sits roughly 7.6 km from the terminal area. Operations run on Europe/Sofia (UTC+03:00, EEST). Live weather is temporarily unavailable. With 3 other indexable airports in its surrounding network, it works well as a reference point for regional flight planning and timezone checks.
Sofia Airport (SOF / LBSF) is at 42.6964° N, 23.4177° E, elevation 1,742 ft (531 m), serving Sofia, Bulgaria.
The accepted reference summary is used as supporting context for the airport identity and operating notes; the timed facts here still come from the airport catalog, timezone database, country snapshot, and linked source trail.
Sofia is in Bulgaria (capital Sofia); on Europe/Sofia (EEST, UTC+03:00); working languages: Bulgarian; currency: BGN (лв).
Distance from central Sofia: 8 km.
Airport context brief
A compact traveler-facing brief from the airport catalog, country snapshot, route geometry, city anchors, peer airports, and source trail for SOF.
Name and identity cues
Primary airport name
Sofia Airport (SOF / LBSF)
Sofia Airport · International airport in Bulgaria
Known label 1
Sofia International Airport
Alternate airport-name cue retained for SOF, not a separate indexable duplicate page.
Known label 2
Vrazhdebna Air Base
Alternate airport-name cue retained for SOF, not a separate indexable duplicate page.
Source identifiers
LBSF · LBSF · BG-22
sofia-airport.bg · en.wikipedia.org · scheduled service yes
Source-specific airport notes
Regional role cue
Sofia Airport is the main international airport of Bulgaria, located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the centre of the capital Sofia.
Accepted from the airport reference trail as a role-specific cue for SOF; not treated as a live service guarantee.
Location cue
Sofia Airport is the main international airport of Bulgaria, located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the centre of the capital Sofia.
Used to make the airport page location-specific beyond the code, coordinate, and timezone record.
Closest mapped city anchors
1. Sofia
sofia · 7.6 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 1,152,556 · city coordinates 42.6975, 23.3241
2. Pernik
pernik · 33 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 82,467 · city coordinates 42.5967, 23.0332
3. Botevgrad
botevgrad · 39 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 20,909 · city coordinates 42.9080, 23.7927
4. Samokov
samokov · 41 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 26,765 · city coordinates 42.3385, 23.5581
5. Dupnitsa
dupnitsa · 54 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 34,764 · city coordinates 42.2648, 23.1172
6. Vratsa
vratsa · 58 km from SOF
Bulgaria · Europe/Sofia · +0h · population 49,569 · city coordinates 43.2105, 23.5631
Airport alternatives in the retained graph
1. SKP LWSK
Skopje International Airport · Ilinden
169 km from SOF · Europe/Skopje · -1h · elevation 781 ft (238 m) · airport coordinates 41.9581, 21.6226
2. PRN BKPR
Priština Adem Jashari International Airport · Prishtina
195 km from SOF · Europe/Skopje · -1h · elevation 1,789 ft (545 m) · airport coordinates 42.5728, 21.0358
3. BBU LRBS
Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International Airport · Bucharest
295 km from SOF · Europe/Bucharest · +0h · elevation 297 ft (91 m) · airport coordinates 44.5031, 26.1029
Route-time reference set
1. SOF-SKP
Ilinden · 169 km · 1h 3m
Europe/Skopje · -1h from SOF; reference route only, not a live schedule.
2. SOF-PRN
Prishtina · 195 km · 1h 5m
Europe/Skopje · -1h from SOF; reference route only, not a live schedule.
3. SOF-BBU
Bucharest · 295 km · 1h 12m
Europe/Bucharest · +0h from SOF; reference route only, not a live schedule.
Runway source evidence
Published runway count
1 runway
Longest runway 11,811 ft / 3,600 m. 1 lighted runway in the runway snapshot.
Runway surface mix
asphalt
Surface labels are normalized from the OurAirports runway rows for SOF.
Runway identifiers
09/27
Identifier pairs are retained as airport-specific runway cues, not live operational availability claims.
Accepted operational notes
Source note 1
In 2025 the airport surpassed 8 million passengers for the first time.
Retained as a source-backed local role note for SOF.
Source note 2
The airport serves as the home base for BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter and GullivAir, and as a base for both Ryanair and Wizz Air.
Retained as a source-backed local role note for SOF.
Country and authority
SOF sits in Bulgaria (Republic of Bulgaria), whose capital is Sofia. No specific civil-aviation authority label is attached in the current map, so this page avoids inventing one. Country context: Europe, Southeast Europe.
Traveler context
Common country-language signals: Bulgarian. Currency context: BGN (лв). SOF is listed with scheduled service in the airport source snapshot.
Names and local labels
SOF is also associated in the airport facts snapshot with Sofia International Airport, Vrazhdebna Air Base. These labels help catch alternate airport names without creating separate duplicate airport pages.
Reference description
International airport in Bulgaria. This description is used only as identity context; live flight status, terminal assignment, and airport alerts still belong to the official airport or airline source.
Source-specific cues
Regional role cue: Sofia Airport is the main international airport of Bulgaria, located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the centre of the capital Sofia. Location cue: Sofia Airport is the main international airport of Bulgaria, located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the centre of the capital Sofia.
Entity fingerprint
Wikidata airport entity: Q7942651 · Vrazhdebna Air Base. Administrative area: Sofia · Stolichna Municipality. Named after: Sofia · Vasil Levski. Entity official-site cross-check: sofia-airport.bg
Field and clock profile
Sofia Airport is a moderate-elevation field at 1,742 ft (531 m), positioned at 42.6964° N, 23.4177° E in the Northern mid-latitudes. The runway snapshot lists 1 runway and a longest runway of 11,811 ft / 3,600 m. The airport clock uses Europe/Sofia (EEST, UTC+03:00), so cross-date arrivals should be checked against this zone rather than the airline origin city.
City and airport alternatives
Sofia is the closest retained city-time anchor at 7.6 km. SKP Ilinden is the closest retained airport alternative at 169 km.
Country airport peers
SOF has no same-country peer airports retained in the current airport set, so the useful comparison points are its code, coordinates, timezone, and route references.
Route geometry
SOF-SKP Ilinden: 169 km, about 1h 3m, -1h. SOF-PRN Prishtina: 195 km, about 1h 5m, -1h. SOF-BBU Bucharest: 295 km, about 1h 12m, +0h. These are distance and timezone references, not live flight availability claims.
Source trail
OurAirports ident LBSF backs the stable code, coordinate, elevation, and timezone record. sofia-airport.bg is attached as the official airport website. en.wikipedia.org is used only as supporting reference context. Snapshot date: 2026-05-21.
Operational Profile
Traffic profile
8 million passengers
Airline role
BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter
Terminal footprint
See operational notes
Runway footprint
1 runway · longest 11,811 ft / 3,600 m
Runway identifiers
09/27
OurAirports classifies SOF as a large airport with scheduled service, which gives it stronger planning value than a code-only lookup.
SOF (LBSF) is one of the curated airport pages with a real traffic signal attached: 8 million passengers, operating from a moderate-elevation field at 1,742 ft (531 m).
SOF sits in a broader regional network with 3 nearby curated alternatives, so airline choice and connection strategy are part of the planning story here.
SOF's runway record lists 1 runway, with the longest runway at 11,811 ft / 3,600 m and source surfaces recorded as asphalt.
Bulgarian Air Force is the clearest operator or management signal we currently have on file for SOF.
- In 2025 the airport surpassed 8 million passengers for the first time.
- The airport serves as the home base for BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter and GullivAir, and as a base for both Ryanair and Wizz Air.
These operational notes prefer the structured airport facts snapshot, then fall back to the accepted airport reference at sofia-airport.bg, then blend that with local timezone, route, and city-access data already on this page.
Decision matrix for SOF
These are the specific situations where this airport page earns its keep: time-zone conversion, city transfer planning, nearby airport backup logic, and source-confidence checks before acting.
When the clock matters
SOF uses Europe/Sofia (EEST, UTC+03:00). Use this before overnight arrivals, cross-date departures, and same-day connections.
When surface access matters
Sofia Airport is about 7.6 km from central Sofia; build that transfer into arrival and check-in planning.
When alternates matter
SKP Ilinden is the closest retained alternate at 169 km, time difference -1h.
When source checks matter
sofia-airport.bg is listed as the official airport website in the airport facts snapshot; live schedules, gates, routes, terminals, and NOTAM-sensitive operations still need official airport or airline verification.
How this airport compares nearby
These comparisons place SOF inside the retained airport graph by country, timezone, elevation, and coordinate neighbors. They are deterministic dataset facts, not generated flight claims.
Country-rank position
SOF ranks #1 in the curated Bulgaria airport set when large airports are listed before medium airports, then sorted by IATA code. The retained country set has 1 airport.
Same-zone airport cohort
SOF has no other retained airport in the same IANA zone cohort, making Europe/Sofia a more distinctive signal for this page.
Elevation-neighbor cohort
SOF is 1,742 ft (531 m). Closest elevation peers in the retained airport set include ISB 1,761 ft (537 m) (19 ft delta) · SJJ 1,708 ft (521 m) (34 ft delta) · PRN 1,789 ft (545 m) (47 ft delta) · YXE 1,653 ft (504 m) (89 ft delta) · HHN 1,649 ft (503 m) (93 ft delta).
Coordinate-neighbor check
SOF's nearest retained coordinate neighbors are SKP 169 km -1h · PRN 195 km -1h · BBU 295 km +0h.
Flight Path Arc
Great-circle route between airports with animated plane. Pick a route.
Arriving From / Departing To
| Destination | Route code | Distance | Estimated window | Time difference | Destination clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilinden | SKP | 169 km | 1h 3m | -1h | --:--:-- |
| Prishtina | PRN | 195 km | 1h 5m | -1h | --:--:-- |
| Bucharest | BBU | 295 km | 1h 12m | +0h | --:--:-- |
SOF to SKP
Ilinden
Distance 169 km; estimated travel window 1h 3m; destination zone Europe/Skopje is -1h from SOF. Use the live destination clock on this page as a cross-timezone planning cue, not as a live flight schedule.
SOF to PRN
Prishtina
Distance 195 km; estimated travel window 1h 5m; destination zone Europe/Skopje is -1h from SOF. Use the live destination clock on this page as a cross-timezone planning cue, not as a live flight schedule.
SOF to BBU
Bucharest
Distance 295 km; estimated travel window 1h 12m; destination zone Europe/Bucharest is +0h from SOF. Use the live destination clock on this page as a cross-timezone planning cue, not as a live flight schedule.
Airport Details
Timezone
Ground Transport and Nearby Context
Central Sofia is close enough that taxi, ride-hail, and rail or shuttle links are usually the fastest arrival options.
Sofia is the nearest mapped city anchor in the current dataset, which makes it the cleanest companion page when travelers want to switch from airport timing into local city timing.
Sofia Airport has 3 nearby indexed airport alternatives, which makes backup departures and diversion logic part of real planning instead of a theoretical edge case.
Nearby city time anchors
Airport pages are most useful when they bridge into real city clocks. These city anchors are ranked by distance from SOF, then shown with their own timezone, local time, and time difference from the airport clock.
Sofia
sofia · 7.6 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Pernik
pernik · 33 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Botevgrad
botevgrad · 39 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Samokov
samokov · 41 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Dupnitsa
dupnitsa · 54 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Vratsa
vratsa · 58 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Berkovitsa
berkovitsa · 65 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Panagyurishte
panagyurishte · 67 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Kyustendil
kyustendil · 75 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Blagoevgrad
blagoevgrad · 80 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Montana
montana · 81 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Velingrad
velingrad · 88 km · Europe/Sofia
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Diff
- +0h
Airlines and Network Role
Sofia Airport is associated in the current source trail with BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter, as a base for both Ryanair, Wizz Air, which makes carrier-specific schedule checks especially important before acting on a route plan.
The route timing references show the first cross-timezone planning burden after this airport: Ilinden (SKP), Prishtina (PRN), Bucharest (BBU). Treat them as distance and clock cues, then verify flight availability with the carrier.
Planning checkpoints
- Traffic signal: 8 million passengers.
- Terminal footprint: not clearly stated in the source trail.
- Runway footprint: 1 runway; longest runway 11,811 ft / 3,600 m; identifiers 09/27.
- Runway surfaces: asphalt; 1 lighted runway in the source snapshot.
- Operator / management: Bulgarian Air Force.
- Opened / inaugurated: 1935.
- Network role: BH Air, Bulgaria Air, European Air Charter, as a base for both Ryanair +1 more.
Nearby Airports
Nearby airports are ranked by coordinate distance from SOF. The time difference column is computed from IANA zones against the page snapshot, while the local clocks update in the browser.
Skopje International AirportSKP
Ilinden · large airport
- Distance
- 169 km
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Time diff
- -1h
- Elevation
- 781 ft (238 m)
Compare against SKP when route choice, backup departures, or arrival-side local time matters.
Priština Adem Jashari International AirportPRN
Prishtina · large airport
- Distance
- 195 km
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Time diff
- -1h
- Elevation
- 1,789 ft (545 m)
Compare against PRN when route choice, backup departures, or arrival-side local time matters.
Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu International AirportBBU
Bucharest · large airport
- Distance
- 295 km
- Local time
- --:--:--
- Time diff
- +0h
- Elevation
- 297 ft (91 m)
Compare against BBU when route choice, backup departures, or arrival-side local time matters.
Companion Planning Tools
Questions
FAQ
What timezone is Sofia Airport (SOF) in?▾
Sofia Airport is in the Europe/Sofia timezone (UTC+03:00, EEST).
What are the codes for Sofia Airport?▾
Sofia Airport uses IATA code SOF and ICAO code LBSF.
Where is Sofia Airport located?▾
Sofia Airport is located in Sofia, Bulgaria at coordinates 42.6964° N, 23.4177° E, with an elevation of 1,742 ft (531 m) (moderate-elevation field in the mid-latitudes).
How far is Sofia Airport from central Sofia?▾
Sofia Airport sits roughly 7.6 km from the nearest mapped city center for Sofia.
Which route reference is most useful from SOF?▾
Ilinden (SKP) is one of the closest route references on this page, with an estimated travel window of 1h 3m, destination timezone Europe/Skopje, and a -1h difference from SOF.
How many runways does Sofia Airport have?▾
Sofia Airport's source-backed operational summary lists 1 runway, with the longest runway recorded at 11,811 ft / 3,600 m; identifiers include 09/27.