Pulkovo sees slow passenger growth in 1999

Published: 3/16/2000

The St Petersburg based airline, Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise carried 1.5m passengers during 1999, an increase of 112,000 from 1998. Mr Sergei Belov, the company's Deputy Director General also stated that the ratio of international and domestic passengers was 52:48 and not 60:40 as previously reported. Levels of passenger traffic to the Czech Republic, the Scandinavian countries and Israel increased while there was a reduction in the number of travellers to Bulgaria and Istanbul. Pulkovo announced that it plans to open a new route to link St Petersburg and Budapest in 2000, as well as resuming flights to Sofia in April and increasing the number of charter flights to Egypt, Greece, Spain and Tunisia. In 1999, the company spent US$1.5m to purchase aerial collision protection equipment and over the past three years, it has invested US$30m in upgrading the company's aircraft. As a result, Pulkovo said that the number of reported incidents had been reduced by 25%. In 2000, Pulkovo claims that it plans to replenish its fleet with two TU-154M and Tu-134 aircraft.

Article ID: 1689