Flights to St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad
Saint Petersburg (Russian: St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, sankt p ʲ ɪt ʲ ɪrburk) is a city of federal importance for Russia. It is located in the northwestern part of the country, at the confluence of the River Neva in the Gulf of the Baltic Sea. Between 1914 and 1924 St. Petersburg was called Petrograd and from 1924 to 1991 - Leningrad. Now it is called again Peter and St. Petersburg.Founded on May 27, 1703 by Tsar Peter I, St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two centuries (1713-1728, 1732-1918), with the exception of the four-year period from 1728 to 1732 when Peter II moved the capital to Moscow. After the October Revolution of March 5, 1918 for safety reasons Lenin moved the capital back to Moscow, but today the city is often called "the northern capital of Russia". With 4.9 million inhabitants today, the city is the second most populous city in Russia and is one of the leading European scientific and cultural centers, as well as the main Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Here is the seat of the Constitutional Court.
St. Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia in the cultural sense.It is geographically the northernmost city with a population of over 1 million people in the world. The historic center is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The St. Petersburg’s Hermitage is the largest art museum in the world and one of the main tourist centers in the country.
Pulkovo is the international airport serving Saint Petersburg in Russia. It has two terminals - Pulkovo-1, which is mainly for domestic flights within the country, and Pulkovo-2 for international flights. Terminals are respectively approximately 20 and 17 km south of the city center. The airport serves as the hub for Rossiya Airlines (formerly Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise). Built in 1932, the airport and the nearby hills of Pulkovo served as the front line of the Nazis during the siege of Leningrad during World War II. The former name of Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, is the source of the IATA airport code LED.
Today Pulkovo is the fourth busiest airport in Russia preceded by Moscow Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.
Among the airlines flying to Pulkovo are Rossiya Airline, Aeroflot, British Airways, Air France, Air Berlin, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, S7 Airlines, Nordavia, SAS, Turkish Airlines and others. The airport has seasonal flights from Varna and Burgas by Bulgaria Air.
