St. Petersberg / Leningrad, Russia - Pulkovo Airport - Soviet era postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Leningrad (now St. Petersberg), Russia - The Pulkovo Airport
• Publisher:  Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Pulkovo Airport (Russian: ??????´?? ??´?????, Aeroport Pulkovo) (IATA: LED, ICAO: ULLI) is an international airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia. It consists of two terminals, Pulkovo-1 (serving mostly domestic flights) and Pulkovo-2 (international flights), which are located about 20 km (12 mi) and 17 km (11 mi) south of the city centre, respectively.^[2][3] The airport serves as a hub for Rossiya Airlines^[4] (formerly Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise), and as focus city for Nordavia. In 2012 roughly 11.2 million passengers travelled through Pulkovo airport, making it the 3rd busiest airport in Russia.

Originally it was named Shosseynaya Airport, by the name of a nearby railroad station. Construction began in January 1931, and was completed on June 24, 1932, with the first aircraft arriving at 17:31 that day, after a two-and-a-half hour flight from Moscow carrying passengers and mail.

During the Second World War the airport was the frontline in the Nazi Siege of Leningrad. There were no flights between 1941 and 1944. The nearby Pulkovo hills were occupied by the Nazis and were used by the long-range artillery for daily bombardments of Leningrad. The airport was cleared of the Nazis in January 1944, and resumed cargo and mail flights after the runways were repaired in 1945.

In February 1948, after the war damages were completely repaired, the airport resumed scheduled passenger flights. In 1949, there were scheduled flights to 15 major cities of the USSR, and 15 more short-range flights within the north-western Russia.

In 1951 the airport terminal was redesigned to handle larger aircraft. In the mid-1950s the new extended runway was completed, allowing to handle larger aircraft such as Ilyushin-18 and Tupolev-104 jets.

ICAO category 1 standards were implemented in 1965, making way for international operations. The airport was renamed ""Pulkovo Airport"" on April 24, 1973. The new Pulkovo-1 terminal was opened to handle the domestic air traffic, which increased 40%-50% every decade between the 1970s and 1990s.

The field's IATA code of ""LED"" derives from the city's previous name, Leningrad.

As of 2012, Pulkovo is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports. While the number of domestic and international flights increased, the number of passengers stagnated between 1990 (4,837,000) and 2006 (just over 5 million) while the share of international traffic rose. It is anticipated that by 2025 Pulkovo airport will handle 17 million passengers.

There are two passenger terminals: Pulkovo-1 for domestic flights, and Pulkovo-2 for international flights. There is also one cargo terminal. There are forty-seven aircraft stands total. It is planned to increase the number of aircraft stands to 100 by 2025.

The airport has two main runways. Runway 10R/28L (Russian: 10?/28?) is 3782 m long and 60 m wide, it has asphalt surface on the base made of reinforced armored concrete. The second runway is 3410 m long and 60 m wide, it has asphalt surface on the base made of reinforced cemento-concrete. The reconstruction of the second runway began in 2007.

Terminal 1 mainly serves flights within Russia and the CIS countries. Some international charter flights are also served by Terminal 1, those are tourist flights as well as private business jets. For example the private jet owned by Steve Forbes was served at Terminal 1, and thousands of people witnessed its ""Forbes — the tool of capitalism"" logo proudly exposed on the body of 737.

Terminal 2 serves most of the long-haul international flights. Terminal 1 was built in 1973, whereas Terminal 2 was built in 1950s and reconstructed in 2003.

In the near term, Pulkovo strategically focuses on its master plan until 2025 that calls for massive modernization of the entire airport infrastructure. A new terminal will be located directly to the north of the Terminal 1 and will contain 18 gates. The construction was planned to begin in 2008 with scheduled completion in 2010/11, but construction started only in spring 2011 with opening for passengers expected in December 2013.

In May 2008, the City of Saint Petersburg opened a 1.5 bn USD tender for a 30-year concession to operate Pulkovo Airport. Fraport has won the tender and is operating the airport.^[5]

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: rest of the world

sub-theme=europe

county/ country=russia

transportation type=not applicable

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted