Wizz Air to further expand in St. Petersburg and launch five new routes from Pulkovo Airport

Leonid Sergeev, CEO of Northern Capital Gateway, operator of Pulkovo Airport, said: "We are happy that Wizz Air strengthens its positions in St. Petersburg. The airline will add 5 new cities to the route network from Pulkovo. This will undoubtedly make travel from St. Petersburg even more affordable and comfortable. All of the announced Italian cities will be new for the schedule of the Pulkovo Airport."

George Michalopoulos, Chief Commercial Officer at Wizz Air, said: "Just one month after announcing our first Russian base, today we are delighted to announce further expansion of our local network by adding the second Airbus A320 aircraft to base in Saint Petersburg from December 2020. We remain committed to Russia and to providing exciting new travel opportunities to the most attractive destinations across Europe. With this announcement we are adding five new, exciting routes from Saint Petersburg to Bergamo, Venice, Bologna, Turin, and Catania in Italy, while keeping ourselves to the highest standards of our sanitizing protocols. We are confident that Wizz Air's ultra-low fares will make travel affordable to ever more passengers."

New Wizz Air flights from St. Petersburg

Tickets for Wizz Air flights can be booked on Pulkovo Airport's website and on wizzair.com or via the WIZZ mobile app at a price from 19.99 euros (one way, including all taxes and non-optional charges).

Previously, Wizz Air announced nine new services under the seventh freedom traffic rights regime from Pulkovo Airport to Bratislava (Slovakia), Bucharest (Romania), Copenhagen (Denmark), Malta, Oslo (Norway), Salzburg (Austria), Sofia (Bulgaria), Stockholm Skavsta (Sweden), Vilnius (Lithuania).

In 2019, Wizz Air served over 111.1 thousand passengers at Pulkovo Airport, which is 59.4% more than in 2018. Before the suspension of the international services from Russia due to COVID-19 pandemic, the airline operated daily scheduled flights from St. Petersburg to Budapest (Hungary) and London Luton (the UK).

Pulkovo is the first and only airport in Russia, which introduced the seventh freedom traffic rights for foreign airlines. This regime allows the airline to perform flights between two foreign countries while not offering service to the carrier's own country. This regime is one of the important market conditions for the development of the low-cost carriers operating from different bases in foreign countries.

St. Petersburg is a world cultural capital and the second largest city in Russia. The city has repeatedly been named the best destination for cultural tourism by the prestigious World Travel Awards. From October 1, 2019, citizens of 53 countries can enter the Russian Federation via St. Petersburg using electronic visas. The visa application form must be accurately filled out in accordance with the passport in order to avoid errors and refusal to enter Russia.

Pulkovo Airport is the fourth airport in Russia in terms of passenger traffic. In 2020, Pulkovo became the winner of the national 'Air Gates of Russia' award, according to the passenger and airlines' votes. Airports Council International (ACI) named St. Petersburg Airport 'The Best Airport in Europe with the annual traffic of 15-25 million passengers in 2019'. Since 2010, Northern Capital Gateway LLC has been the main operator of Pulkovo, implementing the airport reconstruction and development project under a public-private partnership agreement with the city of St. Petersburg.