Pulkovo Airport

Pulkovo Airport

Аэропорт Пулково
Summary
Airport typeInternational
OwnerSaint Petersburg City Administration
OperatorNorthern Capital Gateway
ServesSaint Petersburg, Russia
Hub for
Elevation AMSL79 ft / 24 m
Coordinates59°48′01″N 30°15′45″E / 59.80028°N 30.26250°E / 59.80028; 30.26250
Websitepulkovoairport.ru
Map
LED is located in Saint Petersburg
LED
LED
Location of the airport in Saint Petersburg
LED is located in European Russia
LED
LED
Location of the airport in Russia
LED is located in Europe
LED
LED
Location of the airport in Europe
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10R/28L 3,780 12,401 Cement-concrete
10L/28R 3,397 11,145 Cement-concrete
Statistics (2022)
Passengers18,140,100
Aircraft movements144,867
Sources: Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (see also provisional 2018 statistics)

Pulkovo Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Пулково, IPA: [ˈpuɫkəvə]) (IATA: LED, ICAO: ULLI) is an international airport serving St. Petersburg, Russia. It consists of one terminal which is located 23 km (14 mi) south of the city centre. The airport serves as a hub for Rossiya Airlines and as focus city for Smartavia. It is responsible for serving the citizens of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast: a total of 6,120,000 people. It is the 29th-busiest airport in Europe in 2022.

Description

Pulkovo Airport was officially opened on June 24, 1932, as a state-owned domestic airport. According to provisional figures for 2017, 16,125,520 passengers passed through the airport, a 21.6% increase over 2016. This makes Pulkovo the 4th busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states. Pulkovo is one of the largest airports in Russia and Eastern Europe.

History

1931–1986

In January 1931, construction of an aerodrome near Leningrad (Saint Petersburg's official name between 1924 and 1991 and the source of the airfield's IATA code of "LED" ) commenced and was completed on 24 June 1932, with the first aircraft arriving at 17:31 that day, after a two-and-a-half hour flight from Moscow carrying passengers and mail. This aerodrome was at first named Shosseynaya Airport, the name coming from the nearby Shosseynaya railway station. Soon after, the airport opened regular flights to Petrozavodsk, Pudozh, Arkhangelsk, and Murmansk.

In 1936, a foundation for a new terminal was laid out. Leningrad's airport was also provided with new G-2s and PS-84s. In 1941, a new completely commercial passenger route between Moscow and Leningrad was opened; before it was a mixed passenger-mail route. Construction of the new terminal thrived between 1937 and 1941. The architects of the new three-story terminal were Aleksandr Ivanovich Gegello and N.E. Lansere. Construction was abruptly put on hold in July 1941, one month after Nazi Germany's invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941. The airport was the front line in the German Siege of Leningrad. There were no flights between 1941 and 1944. The nearby Pulkovo hills were occupied by the Germans and were used by German long-range artillery for daily bombardments of Leningrad. The airport was cleared of the Germans in January 1944, and cargo and mail flights were resumed after the runways were repaired in 1945. In February 1948, after the damage was completely repaired, the airport resumed scheduled passenger flights. In 1949, there were scheduled flights to 15 major cities of the USSR, and 15 more short-range flights within north-western Russia. In 1949, Shosseynaya Airport recorded a passenger traffic rate of 6,305, 333 tons of mail, and 708 tons of cargo.

In 1951, the construction of the new terminal was complete. In the mid-1950s the new extended runway was completed, allowing the airport to handle larger aircraft such as Ilyushin-18 and Tupolev-104. In that same time period, the use of jet engine planes began in Shosseynaya Airport. On 15 March 1959, the USSR-42419 Tu-104 was the first commercial jet airplane to take off from the Shosseynaya Airport.[citation needed]

In the early 1960s, modern regional airplanes such as the An-24 and Yak-40 began to appear in the airport. Flights to Vladivostok began to emerge in the flight lists. ICAO category 1 standards were implemented in 1965, making way for international operations. By the late 1960s, over 60 airlines had flights to and from Saint Petersburg's airport. On 8 February 1971, Shosseynaya was awarded the Order of the October Revolution. The airport was renamed Pulkovo Airport on 24 April 1973. In May 1973, the new Pulkovo 1 terminal was opened. The famous 5-cup Pulkovo 1 was designed by Alexandr Zyk. The 5 cups on top were put intentionally to give the terminal a more spacious feeling and allow more natural sunlight to pass through. This terminal is regarded as a masterpiece of Soviet postmodern architecture. Pulkovo 1 was a domestic-only terminal. Domestic air traffic increased by approximately 45% every decade between the 1970-1990s. The old pre-war building of the airport was renamed Pulkovo 2 and the terminal was exploited for international flights only.

On 11 April 1986, the new departure and arrival zones for the international terminal were completed, doubling the passenger traffic rate capacity of Pulkovo 1.

1986–2007

In 1990, Pulkovo Airport reached its passenger traffic rate peak of over 10,000,000 passengers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of passengers declined. In 2005, Pulkovo Airport gained independence as it separated from the Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise. Also in 2005, Rosavia declares that Pulkovo Airport (still state-owned) is to have an open tender on an investment project of the new terminal construction. This allowed it to sell shares and begin working on investment bidding projects. In 2006, Pulkovo Airport served just over 5,000,000 passengers: only 50% of the number from 1990.

2007–present

In 2007, Grimshaw Architects was announced as the winner of the construction contract. In 2009, the Saint Petersburg Transportation Ministry requested that an operating company for Pulkovo Airport be created, and a consortium known as NCG (Northern Capital Gateway) was set up by Russian VTB Capital Bank, international Fraport AG Company, and the Greek Copelouzos Group. On 29 April 2010, NCG won the tender for a 30-year operating lease over Pulkovo Airport. On 24 November 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended a ceremony celebrating the beginning of construction on the new 150,000 m2 Terminal 1.

From 2020, the number of destinations is expected to increase rapidly, with up to 75% increase in passenger numbers forecast. This follows a five-year test agreement permitting non-Russian airlines to operate flights from multiple European destinations into the airport under an OpenSkies/Seventh-freedom traffic right The test follows an easing of visa requirements for many European nationals wishing to visit the St Petersburg region designed to increase tourism to the city through the airport.

Terminals

Pulkovo 1

This historic terminal, opened in 1973, is 43,000 m2 (460,000 sq ft). It was built for 6,500,000 passengers annually, but by 2008 it surpassed its maximum capacity. Since its reconstruction was completed in 2014, this terminal is now used for all passenger flights, domestic and international. It has several duty-free shops, restaurants, and 6 jet bridges. It was reported that when the reconstruction of Pulkovo 1 is completed, Pulkovo Airport's capacity would increase to 17,000,000 passengers annually.

Terminal 1

Construction of Terminal 1 was delayed several times but finally began in 2010.[citation needed] In November 2013, the airport was tested for errors by over 5,200 residents of Saint Petersburg who partook in the process. Several days after the test, the new Terminal 1 opened on December 3, 2013. On February 14, 2014, all operations were consolidated into the new terminal as the old Pulkovo 1 and Pulkovo 2 terminals have been shut down. The new terminal contains several business lounges, restaurants, pharmacies. Terminal 1 is 147,000 m2 and has 400,000 m2 airport dock in front of it. The airport has 88 check-in counters, 110 passport booths, 7 baggage carousels, 110 parking stands, 17 gates, and 17 escalators. The interior of the new airport was designed by Grimshaw Architects and directly correlates with the designs and style of Saint Petersburg city. The new Terminal also sought many artistic sculptures and paintings to give http://line-stargadget.ru/ Archived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine a sense of thriving culture to passengers. Four sculptures from Dmitry Shorin's project named I Believe in Angels decorate the departure hall.

The current Pulkovo-1 terminal includes the new terminal and the old Soviet terminal that was re-constructed and fully converted into the departure area.

Airlines and destinations

Due to the impact of aviation in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, destinations to the European Union, United Kingdom, Australasia, North America, Switzerland, Singapore, Northeast Asia, Taiwan, Iceland, Hong Kong and Norway are suspended until further notice.

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo
Seasonal: Antalya, Hurghada, Istanbul, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Phuket, Sharm El Sheikh, Sochi, Vladivostok
Air Algérie Algiers
Air Cairo Seasonal charter: Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh
Air Serbia Belgrade
Alrosa Moscow–Vnukovo
Avia Traffic Company Bishkek, Osh
Azerbaijan Airlines Baku, Ganja
Azimuth Kaluga, Saransk
Azur Air Seasonal Charter: Antalya, Colombo–Bandaranaike, Dalaman, Enfidha, Hurghada, Phuket, Sharm El Sheikh, Zanzibar
Belavia Minsk
Centrum Air Urgench
China Eastern Airlines Seasonal: Shanghai–Pudong
Corendon Airlines Seasonal Charter: Antalya, Dalaman
Emirates Dubai–International
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Fly Arna Yerevan
flydubai Dubai–International
FlyOne Yerevan
Georgian Airways Tbilisi
Hainan Airlines Beijing–Capital
I-Fly Seasonal: Chita, Khabarovsk
Ikar Ivanovo, Kurgan
Seasonal Charter: Phuket
Izhavia Izhevsk
Kostroma Air Enterprise Kostroma
Mahan Air Seasonal: Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Meraj Airlines Seasonal: Tehran–Imam Khomeini
NordStar Abakan, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow–Domodedovo, Norilsk
Nordwind Airlines Barnaul, Ivanovo, Kazan, Kemerovo, Magnitogorsk, Makhachkala, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Novokuznetsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Samara, Sochi, Tomsk, Ufa
Seasonal: Gorno-Altaysk, Krasnoyarsk, Magas, Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Seasonal charter: Cayo Coco (begins 31 December 2023)
Nouvelair Seasonal: Tunis
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Seasonal: Antalya
Pobeda Astrakhan, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Minsk, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Nizhnekamsk, Novosibirsk, Perm, Samara, Saratov, Sochi, Stavropol, Tyumen, Ufa, Ulyanovsk, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg
Qanot Sharq Bukhara, Samarqand
Red Wings Airlines Kutaisi, Moscow–Domodedovo, Moscow–Zhukovsky, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv (suspended)
Seasonal charter: Phuket
Rossiya Airlines Antalya, Apatity/Kirovsk, Arkhangelsk–Talagi, Baku, Chelyabinsk, Dubai–Al Maktoum, Grozny, Irkutsk, Istanbul, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow–Domodedovo, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Murmansk, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Penza, Perm, Samara, Samarqand, Sochi, Surgut, Syktyvkar, Tashkent, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Yerevan
RusLine Khanty-Mansiysk, Kotlas, Naryan-Mar, Tambov, Yaroslavl, Yoshkar-Ola (suspended)
S7 Airlines Irkutsk, Moscow–Domodedovo, Novosibirsk
SCAT Airlines Astana
Severstal Avia Cherepovets, Ukhta
Seasonal: Apatity/Kirovsk, Sovetsky
Sichuan Airlines Chengdu–Tianfu
Smartavia Arkhangelsk–Talagi, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Sochi, Syktyvkar, Ufa, Yekaterinburg
Seasonal: Krasnoyarsk, Mineralnye Vody, Orenburg, Perm, Tyumen, Volgograd
Somon Air Dushanbe, Khujand
Southwind Airlines Seasonal Charter: Antalya, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh
Tunisair Seasonal: Monastir
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman
Ural Airlines Bishkek, Dushanbe, Kaliningrad, Khujand, Kulob, Moscow–Domodedovo, Osh, Sochi, Yekaterinburg
Seasonal: Gorno-Altaysk
Utair Baku, Moscow–Vnukovo, Samarqand, Surgut, Yerevan
UVT Aero Seasonal: Tobolsk
Uzbekistan Airways Bukhara, Fergana, Samarqand, Tashkent, Termez, Urgench
Vologda Aviation Enterprise Vologda
Yakutia Airlines Yakutsk
Yamal Airlines Nadym, Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk, Salekhard

Statistics

Exterior of old terminal 1.
View of the taxiways
Duty-free area of terminal 1
New terminal exterior.
New departure hall interior.
Terminal 1 interior after renovation.

Annual traffic

Annual Passenger Traffic
Year Passengers % Change
2004 4,337,749 Steady
2005 4,654,405 Increase 7.3%
2006 5,101,842 Increase 9.6%
2007 6,137,805 Increase 20%
2008 7,071,537 Increase 15.2%
2009 6,758,352 Decrease −4.4%
2010 8,443,753 Increase 25%
2011 9,610,767 Increase 14%
2012 11,154,560 Increase 16%
2013 12,854,366 Increase 15.2%
2014 14,264,732 Increase 11%
2015 13,500,125 Decrease −5.3%
2016 13,300,000 Decrease −1.4%
2017 16,125,520 Increase 21.2%
2018 18,122,286 Increase 12.4%
2019 19,581,262 Increase 8.1%
2020 10,944,421 Decrease −45.1%
2021 18,043,464 Increase 64.8%
2022 18,140,100 Increase 0.6%

Route statistics

Busiest domestic routes at Pulkovo Airport (by number of passengers) 2019
Rank City Region Airports Number of passengers
1 Moscow Moscow Moscow
Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast
Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo 5,051,518
2 Simferopol  Republic of Crimea Simferopol Airport 653,844
3 Sochi  Krasnodar Krai Adler–Sochi International Airport 567,827
4 Kaliningrad  Kaliningrad Oblast Khrabrovo Airport 511,520
5 Yekaterinburg  Sverdlovsk Oblast Koltsovo Airport 417,011
6 Krasnodar  Krasnodar Krai Pashkovsky Airport 409,758
7 Novosibirsk  Novosibirsk Oblast Tolmachevo Airport 382,849
8 Arkhangelsk  Arkhangelsk Oblast Talagi Airport 329,233
9 Rostov-on-Don  Rostov Oblast Rostov-on-Don Airport 308,118
10 Murmansk  Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Airport 306,564
Busiest CIS routes at Pulkovo Airport (by number of passengers) 2019
Rank City Country Airports Number of passengers
1 Minsk  Belarus Minsk National Airport 292,044
2 Tashkent  Uzbekistan Tashkent International Airport 132,785
3 Samarkand  Uzbekistan Samarkand Airport 100,255
4 Chișinău  Moldova Chișinău International Airport 95,698
5 Dushanbe  Tajikistan Dushanbe International Airport 86,430
6 Almaty  Kazakhstan Almaty International Airport 82,605
7 Yerevan  Armenia Zvartnots International Airport 60,570
8 Urgench  Uzbekistan Urgench International Airport 57,274
9 Nur-Sultan  Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport 52,319
10 Osh  Kyrgyzstan Osh Airport 51,593
Busiest international routes at Pulkovo Airport (by number of passengers) 2019
Rank City Country Airports Number of passengers
1 Antalya  Turkey Antalya Airport 893,927
2 Frankfurt  Germany Frankfurt Airport 273,017
3 Munich  Germany Munich Airport 248,291
4 Paris  France Charles de Gaulle Airport 245,952
5 Larnaca  Cyprus Larnaca International Airport 225,943
6 Helsinki  Finland Helsinki Airport 209,890
7 Riga  Latvia Riga International Airport 194,248
8 Prague  Czech Republic Václav Havel Airport Prague 186,845
9 Dubai  United Arab Emirates Dubai International Airport 186,428
10 Rome–Fiumicino  Italy Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport 169,637

Investors

Northern Capital Gateway (NCG) began managing the airport in 2009.

The airport's website lists the companies currently participating alongside NCG:

"Russian VTB Capital, member of state-owned VTB Group, German Fraport AG, which manages and operates the airport of Frankfurt and many other international airports, and Horizon Air Investments S.A. member of the Greek Copelouzos Group".

Although not yet listed on the website, the latest investor is Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which now owns a 24.99% share of the Pulkovo Airport. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Thani, vice chairman of QIA and member of Qatar's ruling Al-Thani family, is now listed as a member of the Board of Directors on the Pulkovo airport's website, along with Arturo Carta of QIA.

In November 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree temporarily removing foreign investors from managing the airport. They will retain their shares, but the votes will be controlled by two Russian companies - NCG Holding and Advanced Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies-7.

Ground transportation

Bus near Terminal 1.

Pulkovo Airport is served by the city buses:

For private car travel, Pulkovo Airport is accessible via the nearby Pulkovo Highway (Pulkovskoe shosse) from Saint Petersburg city center.

Accidents and incidents

See also

59°48′01″N 30°15′45″E / 59.80028°N 30.26250°E / 59.80028; 30.26250


This page was last updated at 2024-01-18 18:38 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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