Pulkovo Airport and Air France celebrate 50th anniversary of St. Petersburg-Paris route

Pulkovo St. Petersburg airport and Air France marked 50 years since the launch of the airline’s scheduled service on St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) — Paris route.

At first the line was seasonal and in 1988 was expanded to year-round flights. Initially, the flights included a layover in Helsinki. Later the intermediate stop was eliminated. Through the years, La Caravelle aircraft were replaced with updated Boeing 727’s.

In 1968, most passengers were French tourists who came to get acquainted with the many historical and cultural treasures of Leningrad. World famous sights, such as the Hermitage, Russian Museum, Neva embankments, Pavlovsk and Peterhof, attract more and more tourists from France and beyond, especially during the White Nights, when the city emerges from winter into a glorious festival of warmth and light. Today, around 30% of travelers are Russian passengers flying to Paris and further along the whole network of Air France and its partners. Examples include individual and group travelers, businesspersons and officials, youth and schoolchildren, athletes, tourists, theater and music groups. Air France strives to make the travel experience for Russian-speaking passengers as pleasing and comfortable as possible. Russian customers can download Russian press through the airline’s app. On board long-haul flights, passengers can watch Russian movies, as well as foreign films with Russian subtitles.

In 2017, the traffic on Air France flights at Pulkovo airport was 139,500 passengers, a 7.5% increase as compared to the year 2016. Today, the flights on the St. Petersburg-Paris route (Charles de Gaulle airport) operate daily in the winter and twice a day in the summer with Airbus 319 aircraft.

The capital city of France has for many years remained in the top five of the most popular international destinations from Pulkovo Airport. In 2017 alone, 229,000 passengers travelled between St. Petersburg and Paris with direct flights, representing 7.7% growth in traffic numbers.

Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport welcomed 4.5 million passengers in January-April 2018, a 10.2% increase over the same period in 2017. Since 2010, Northern Capital Gateway LLC has been the main operator of Pulkovo Airport. Based on a public-private partnership agreement with the city of St. Petersburg, the company manages the airport and implements its reconstruction and development project.