Pulkovo was the first to exceed passenger traffic in a record year for aviation in 2019

Passenger traffic at Pulkovo at the end of 2023 amounted to more than 20.4 million people. The airport was the first among the largest to exceed the level of the record year 2019. Domestic tourism and the attraction of Asian airlines helped increase traffic

Pulkovo Airport served 20.4 million passengers in 2023 - this is higher than the figures for 2019, which became a record for Russian aviation. Leonid Sergeev, general DIRECTOR of the airport operator, the Northern Capital Gateway company (VVSS), told RBC about this. “Among airports with passenger traffic of more than 15 million per year, we are the only one in the country that exceeded the 2019 figures. Then we served 19.6 million people, in 2023 - 20.4 million. We exceeded the results of 2019 in terms of income - we have records in both non-aviation commerce and aviation,” said Sergeev.

He noted that domestic tourism is growing at a “cosmic” pace - 17 million passengers out of 20.4 million were served on domestic flights. In 2019, Pulkovo served 12 million people traveling on flights around the country (i.e. Russian traffic increased by 41% by 2019). Compared to the year before last, Pulkovo received 12% more passengers.

Back in the fall, Pulkovo became the country’s second airport in terms of passenger traffic (after Sheremetyevo) - at the end of the year, the harbor retained this status (Sheremetyevo served 36.6 million people).

Among Russian airports, only Moscow and Pulkovo have traditionally served more than 15 million passengers per year. According to an RBC source close to the aviation authorities, the airports of the Moscow air hub at the end of 2023 have not yet reached the passenger traffic of 2019. RBC sent inquiries to the press services of Domodedovo and Vnukovo. Sheremetyevo served 36.6 million people, which is 29% more than in 2022, but 26.7% below 2019.

What causes traffic to grow?

12 new airlines began flying to St. Petersburg airport in 2023, flights were opened to ten new destinations, Leonid Sergeev shared with RBC. “Among them there are completely new ones that have never existed before, for example, Algeria and Abu Dhabi.”

RBC Pro development program Master 52 skills in a year The development program is a convenient tool for continuous learning new skills for a successful career What non-obvious reasons make you procrastinate Good connections: what styles can networking be divided into The leader who is not left: how to earn the loyalty of subordinates If you are tired , downshifting is not the answer. How to save your career How to memorize 30 pages at a time - advice from the Swedish Grand Master of Memory 9 ways to make meetings more productive - from simple to radical “Anti-time management”: how to learn to manage everything A manager doesn’t need to be very smart: the HEAD of JPMorgan is about management Salvation top manager: 10 tricks for answering tricky questions Dictator's dictionary: what 6 phrases will give away an authoritarian manager What tricks of legendary scammers will be useful to you during negotiations Business coach Matt Abrahams: don’t try to speak “correctly”

Also among the newly emerging destinations are flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Tunisia and the Russian Abakan, Chita, Khabarovsk. Among the involved airlines are Air Algerie, Etihad Airways, flydubai, Armenian Fly Arna, Georgian Airways, Iranian Meraj Airlines and Mahan Air, Chinese CHINA Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Centrum Air ( Uzbekistan ), Turkish Corendon Airlines, Russian Cosmos.

“St. Petersburg has been and remains a business, tourist, and cultural center of attraction. Against the background of the events of the beginning of this decade, the demand for Russians to visit the city has increased, they have replaced Europeans. There are quite a lot of opportunities to fly to St. Petersburg directly from regional centers. In addition, by 2023, tourists from China returned to Pulkovo,” Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport agency, explained the results for 2023.

How many passengers are expected

Fedor Borisov, chief expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, notes that the trend towards an increase in passenger traffic at Pulkovo was observed before the covid-19 pandemic . “They just caught up with this trend. At the same time, the airport, of course, has lost most of the tourists from Europe in recent years. But at the same time, there was a reorientation of domestic tourism to St. Petersburg, in addition, the Chinese began to fly to us again - all this brought results,” notes Fedor Borisov.

Further growth in Pulkovo traffic, according to the expert, will largely depend on the state of the fleet of domestic airlines and their ability to support the growing volume of traffic. “As for the airport itself, the passenger service resource that was built into it is already close to exhaustion. Therefore, Pulkovo is already designing a new phase - plans to build a large southern gallery.”

Oleg Panteleev from Airport notes that further growth in traffic will be determined largely by external factors: macroeconomic indicators, development of the hospitality infrastructure of St. Petersburg and the region. “There is, of course, some optimism here. But it is perhaps inappropriate to talk about high growth rates in 2024 relative to 2023,” notes Panteleev.

To attract new passengers and simplify navigation, Leonid Sergeev proposes to create a system of quality standards for their service in Russia: “When Singapore wanted to attract global investment , they developed a quality system. You cannot open a company in Singapore - be it a tire shop, a store, a restaurant, a hotel - unless you pass their quality certification. In RUSSIA, Roskachestvo has a practice of publishing product ratings, but the same rating should appear to assess the quality of service for tourists at airports, train stations, and even in relation to tourist cities.” According to him, a structure should appear at the state level that will set standards, conduct audits, and compile ratings. This will help tourists navigate the tourist map of Russia and choose where it is best for them to fly.

The growth trend in Pulkovo will continue, says Ilya Shatilin, editor-in-chief of the FrequentFlyers.ru portal: “Both due to obvious factors (increasing domestic traffic bypassing Moscow, increasing the number of international flights to friendly countries), and non-obvious ones - for example, someone used to fly through the Baltic states and Finland, getting there from Russia by land transport, now this is impossible due to closed borders.” The expert predicts that the airport may well reach the level of 25 million passengers served by 2030.