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.

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.

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.

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 Leningrad 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.

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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.

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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 m 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.

On 31 January 2024, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery near St. Petersburg. The Ukrainian drones and Russian air defence missiles fired to stop the attack led to all flights from the Pulkovo airport being suspended between 3:53 a.m. and 5:11 a.m.

This historic terminal, opened in 1973, is 43,000 m (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.

Construction of Terminal 1 was delayed several times but finally began in 2010. 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 m and has 400,000 m 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.

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 and Norway are suspended until further notice.

Airlines	Destinations
Aeroflot	Moscow–Sheremetyevo Seasonal: Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Hurghada, Phuket, Sharm El Sheikh
Air Cairo	Seasonal charter: Sharm El Sheikh
Air Serbia	Belgrade
AlMasria Universal Airlines	Seasonal charter: Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh
Alrosa	Moscow–Vnukovo
Avia Traffic Company	Bishkek, Osh
Azerbaijan Airlines	Baku
azimuth	Kaluga, Moscow–Vnukovo, Saransk, Tbilisi
Azur Air	Seasonal charter: Colombo–Bandaranaike
Belavia	Homiel, Minsk
China Eastern Airlines	Shanghai–Pudong
Emirates	Dubai–International
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi (ends 1 April 2025)
flydubai	Dubai–International
FlyOne Armenia	Yerevan
Georgian Airways	Tbilisi
Hainan Airlines	Beijing–Capital
Ikar	Ivanovo, Kurgan, Orsk Seasonal charter: Phuket
Izhavia	Izhevsk
Kostroma Air Enterprise	Kostroma
Meraj Airlines	Seasonal: Tehran–Imam Khomeini
NordStar	Krasnoyarsk–International, Norilsk
Nordwind Airlines	Barnaul, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Kemerovo, Magnitogorsk, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Novokuznetsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Samara, Sochi, Tomsk, Ufa
Nouvelair	Seasonal: Monastir
Pegasus Airlines	Antalya, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Pobeda	Astrakhan, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Makhachkala, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Nizhnekamsk, Perm, Samara, Saratov, Stavropol, Ulyanovsk–Baratayevka, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg
Qanot Sharq	Bukhara, Namangan, Samarqand
Red Wings Airlines	Batumi, Kaluga, Tbilisi
Rossiya Airlines	Almaty, Antalya, Apatity/Kirovsk, Arkhangelsk–Talagi, Chelyabinsk, Dubai–Al Maktoum, Gorno-Altaysk, Grozny, Irkutsk, Istanbul, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk–International, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Murmansk, Nalchik, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Penza, Perm, Samara, Samarqand, Sochi, Surgut, Syktyvkar, Tashkent, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Yerevan
RusLine	Khanty-Mansiysk, 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–Domodedovo, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Sochi, Syktyvkar, Ufa, Yekaterinburg Seasonal: Mineralnye Vody, Orenburg, Perm, Tyumen, Volgograd
Somon Air	Dushanbe, Khujand
Southwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Antalya
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
Ural Airlines	Dushanbe, Kaliningrad, Khujand, Kulob, Moscow–Domodedovo, Osh, Sochi, Yekaterinburg
Utair	Baku, Moscow–Vnukovo, Samarqand, Surgut
UVT Aero	Tobolsk
Uzbekistan Airways	Bukhara, Fergana, Namangan, Qarshi, Samarqand, Tashkent, Termez, Urgench
Vologda Aviation Enterprise	Vologda
Yakutia Airlines	Yakutsk
Yamal Airlines	Nadym, Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk, Salekhard

Annual Passenger Traffic

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

Busiest domestic routes at Pulkovo Airport (by number of passengers) 2019

Rank	City	Region	Airports	Number of passengers
1	Moscow	Moscow 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

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.

Pulkovo Airport is served by the city buses:

• No.39 and No.39Ex. to the metro station "Moskovskaya" on line M2;
• No. 82Ex. to the metro station "Prospekt Veteranov" on line M1.

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

• 27 April 1974, an Ilyushin Il-18V passenger aircraft of Aeroflot flying to Krasnodar crashed right after takeoff from Pulkovo after an engine fire. All 108 passengers and 10 crew members died. It eventually came to be known as the 1974 Leningrad Aeroflot Il-18 crash.

• List of the busiest airports in Russia
• List of the busiest airports in Europe
• List of the busiest airports in the former USSR

Media related to Pulkovo Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official site (in English and Russian)
• Current weather for ULLI at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for LED at Aviation Safety Network

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