RUSSIA. Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport said passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2017 totalled just under 2.9 million, representing a +25.3% increase year on year.
The Russian hub said domestic traffic grew by +22.6% to 2.05 million passengers and international traffic grew by +32.2% to 844,000 passengers.
Pulkovo Airport handled 30,861 take-off and landing operations during the period (up +18% year on year), with Moscow, Sochi and Yekaterinburg the top domestic destinations. Minsk, Frankfurt am Main and Paris were the most popular foreign destinations.
As reported, the airport recently received the Chinese Academy of Tourism’s Welcome Chinese Certification underlining its quality of international hospitality for visitors from China.
Due to increased traffic between destinations in China and St. Petersburg, Pulkovo International’s main operator Northern Capital Gateway Company adapted various services to make the gateway more convenient and understandable for Chinese passengers.
Rossiya Airlines, Aeroflot, Ural Airlines, UTair and S7 were the largest Russian carriers in terms of traffic volume at Pulkovo in Q1. These carriers serviced 1.96 million passengers or 67.6% of the total traffic at the airport during the three-month period.
Lufthansa, Belavia, Uzbekistan Airways, Emirates and KLM were the leading international airlines at the gateway, handling 236,366 passengers between them (8.2% of traffic).
Some 1.02 million passengers used Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport in March 2017 alone, representing a +23.1% increase year on year.
A raft of scheduled flights will be launched from the Russian hub this summer, including routes to Catania in Italy, Kavala in Greece, Bergen in Norway and Tallinn in Estonia.
