--- title: "Bucharest to Istanbul (OTP → IST): distance and flight time · Orbit" description: "Bucharest to Istanbul is 424 km (264 mi) great circle, an estimated 1h 02m in the air. The route, what it flies over, and why the short way is not the straight line on a map." url: https://orbitflights.app/routes/otp-to-ist --- OTP → IST # Bucharest to Istanbul: distance, flight time and the route it really takes Bucharest Henri Coandă to İstanbul is 424 km of great circle — 264 mi — and an estimated 1h 02m in the air. Both ends are in Europe. **Great circle** 424 km 264 mi **Estimated in the air** 1h 02m block time **Furthest from equator** 44.6°N at 0% along **One lap of Earth** 1.1% of 40,075 km Of the [292 routes catalogued here](https://orbitflights.app/routes), this is the 286th longest. The Bucharest to Istanbul route drawn as a great circle arc on a globe ## What the aircraft actually flies over From Bucharest the path crosses Romania, then Bulgaria, then 151 km of open water. The furthest the great circle gets from the equator is 44.6°N, 0% of the way along. Holding a single compass bearing the whole way would cover almost exactly the same ground, so on this route the flat map and the globe agree. The heading barely moves: south-east out of Bucharest, south-east into Istanbul. Over this distance the curve has too little room to bend the compass. One economy seat on it is about 63 kg of CO₂e each way, counting non-CO₂ warming. [OTP–IST carbon footprint →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-carbon-calculator?from=OTP&to=IST) [Map this route →](https://orbitflights.app/tools/flight-route-map?r=OTP-IST) From OTP ## Bucharest Henri Coandă Bucharest, Romania · Europe 44.6°N, 26.1°E [OTP airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/otp) [Flights to Bucharest →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/bucharest) To IST ## İstanbul Istanbul, Turkey · Europe 41.3°N, 28.7°E [IST airport →](https://orbitflights.app/airports/ist) [Flights to Istanbul →](https://orbitflights.app/flights-to/istanbul) ## Bucharest to Istanbul, asked and answered **How far is Bucharest to Istanbul?** Bucharest to Istanbul (OTP to IST) is 424 km, or 264 mi, measured as great circle distance between the two airports. **How long is the flight from Bucharest to Istanbul?** About 1h 02m in the air. That is an estimate from the distance at a typical airliner block speed, plus half an hour for taxi, climb and descent; published schedules vary with winds and routing. **What route does a Bucharest to Istanbul flight take?** The great circle passes over Romania, then Bulgaria, then 151 km of open water. It reaches 44.6°N at its furthest from the equator. ## Where these numbers come from Distances are computed from the two airports’ own coordinates, not looked up from published routes. Times are estimates, not schedules. [Why the shortest path is a curve →](https://orbitflights.app/blog/great-circle-routes-explained) ## Flown this one? Orbit logs it in two taps and draws the arc on your own globe, along with every other flight you can remember. Free for your first 15. [Download now](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qwertybit.orbit) ## Nearby routes [ATH → IST Athens to Istanbul 553 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/ath-to-ist) [OTP → VIE Bucharest to Vienna 830 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/otp-to-vie) [IST → CAI Istanbul to Cairo 1,264 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/ist-to-cai) [OTP → BER Bucharest to Berlin 1,267 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/otp-to-ber) [OTP → MXP Bucharest to Milan 1,366 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/otp-to-mxp) [FRA → IST Frankfurt to Istanbul 1,837 km](https://orbitflights.app/routes/fra-to-ist) ## Further reading [How many miles do you have to fly around the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/how-many-miles-to-fly-around-the-world) [What is on the exact opposite side of the world?](https://orbitflights.app/blog/opposite-side-of-the-world) [What's actually worth counting in a flight log](https://orbitflights.app/blog/what-is-worth-counting-in-a-flight-log) --- Markdown copy of https://orbitflights.app/routes/otp-to-ist for language models and agents. Site index: https://orbitflights.app/llms.txt