On June 18, 2016, Air Serbia launched direct scheduled flights between Belgrade and Saint Petersburg in Russia. The route is served for the first time in the recent history of the Pulkovo Saint Petersburg Airport.
Travellers can now fly from Saint Petersburg to Belgrade three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Airbus A319 aircraft configured with eight Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats is used for the flight which takes only 2 hours 40 minutes.
'In the past five years, the indirect traffic between the two cities grew by 263 per cent, exceeding 20,000 passengers in 2015. This made the Serbian capital the top unserved destination in Europe in Pulkovo’s network. Russia and Serbia have longstanding cultural and business ties, and we are confident that the new service will help strengthen them,' said Evgeniy Ilyin, chief commercial officer of Northern Capital Gateway LLC, the main operator of Pulkovo Airport.
'Air Serbia is delighted to commence passenger flights to Saint Petersburg, a well-positioned gateway to North Europe and the vast country of Russia. With multiple weekly flight options, convenient arrival and departure times and easy connections over Belgrade to the Balkans and South Europe, we expect the Saint Petersburg fight to be a hit with business and leisure travellers who have expressed strong travel demand to the city', noted Dane Kondić, Chief Executive Officer of Air Serbia.
Belgrade marks the fifth new international route launched from Pulkovo this summer season. The previous ones included Corfu, Zakynthos (Greece), Batumi (Georgia), Rimini (Italy), Zagreb (Croatia). Another destination that was added to the airport’s schedule on June 21 was Shanghai (China).
Air Serbia was launched as the national airline of the Republic of Serbia in October 2013. From its Belgrade hub, Nikola Tesla International Airport, Air Serbia flies to, or has announced plans to serve, 44 passenger and cargo destinations in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North America.
Pulkovo International Saint Petersburg Airport served 13.5 million passengers in 2015, ranking fourth in Russia in terms of passenger flow. The airport is operated by Northern Capital Gateway LLC, an international consortium of VTB Capital, Fraport AG, and Copelouzos Group. In 2015, Pulkovo won the Airport Council International ASQ award as Best Airport in Europe.