Domestic traffic through Russia’s St. Petersburg airport recovers completely

Pulkovo is gearing up for re-opening of international air travel (Pulkovo International Airport)

St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport (IATA: LED) has announced 100 per cent recovery of its domestic traffic. Following gradual uplifting of quarantine measures across Russian regions, passenger numbers through Pulkovo restored to pre-crisis levels as of July 19. In the first three weeks of July the airport handed over 400,000 domestic travelers, level with the same period of last year. According to the airport’s operator Northern Capital Gateway (NCG), the most popular destinations in July were Black Sea resorts Simferopol, Sochi, Krasnodar and Anapa, as well as Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Mineralnye Vody and Chelyabinsk.

In May and June Pulkovo ranked among Europe’s 10 largest airports in Europe by passenger numbers, according to Airports Council International (ACI). In May, the airport handled 136,355 passengers ranking eighth largest. In July, NCG claims, Pulkovo outperformed London’s Heathrow, Munich and Oslo as its traffic exceeded 435,000 passengers.

In anticipation of an even brighter future, Pulkovo is currently gearing up for re-opening of international air travel, which may partly resume in August. St. Petersburg is one of six Russian cities – along with Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don and Vladivostok – suggested by the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) as the first to restart operations on international routes.