Pulkovo Airport (St Petersburg)

Pulkovo Airport (IATA: LED, ICAO: ULLI) is the international airport serving St. Petersburg, Russia. The Pulkovo-2 terminal is located about 17 km (11 mi) south of the city centre. The Pulkovo-1 terminal is located about 20 km (12 mi) south of the city centre. 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 of 1944, and resumed cargo and mail flights after the runways were repaired in 1945. In February of 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. The airport has two main runways. Runway 10R/28L 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 cement-concrete. The reconstruction of the second runway began in 2007.

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