Pulkovo Airport guide

Pulkovo Airport is the primary airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, located 23 km south of the city center. Its history dates to 1932, when a small airfield opened south of the city; the airport later took its name from the nearby Pulkovo Heights. A major reconstruction, completed in 2013 under a public-private concession, replaced the older Soviet-era building with a single consolidated terminal handling both domestic and international traffic.

The airport is operated by Northern Capital Gateway (NCG) under a long-term concession, while the City of St. Petersburg retains ownership. Two parallel runways handle traffic, and passenger numbers reached roughly 20.9 million in 2024, making Pulkovo one of the busiest airports in Russia outside Moscow.

Aeroflot and its subsidiary Rossiya Airlines operate Pulkovo as a secondary hub, alongside Smartavia, Pobeda, Nordwind and Ural Airlines on extensive domestic networks. International service, historically strong to European destinations, has been curtailed since 2022 by sanctions and airspace restrictions, leaving surviving long-haul and regional links concentrated on Turkey, the Gulf and parts of Asia.