Izmir will become the fourth summer destination in Turkey with direct air connection to St. Petersburg.
SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, will launch scheduled service from Izmir (Turkey) to St. Petersburg (Russia) in the IATA Summer 2019. The airline will operate flights on modern Boeing 737-800 aircraft twice a week, from May 30 to September 30, 2019. The departure from Izmir to St. Petersburg will be on Thursdays and Sundays, with the return flights performed on Fridays and Mondays. Both the destination and the carrier will be new for Pulkovo St.Petersburg Airport.
“We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of SunExpress at Pulkovo. For many years now, Turkey has been a favorite vacation spot and a popular transit point for passengers from St.Petersburg and Russia’s North-West. Connecting St. Petersburg to Izmir, SunExpress will offer travelers from LED both a new vibrant business and leisure destination as well access to the airline’s wide network from its Adnan Menderes Airport hub,” said Evgeniy Ilyin, Chief Commercial Officer of Northern Capital Gateway LLC, managing company of Pulkovo Airport.
“SunExpress is always looking to expand its network portfolio for both of our bases in Antalya and Izmir, with Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport we found an excellent addition for our Izmir route map. We look forward to welcome many Russian travelers to spend their vacation on the Turkish Aegean coastline around Izmir in the summer of 2019,” said Wilken Bellmann, Head of Network Planning and Scheduling at SunExpress.
Izmir will become the fourth summer destination in Turkey with direct air connection to St. Petersburg. In the IATA Summer 2018, Pulkovo Airport offered scheduled flights to Istanbul, Antalya, and Alanya with various charter service operated to Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and Istanbul as well.
Izmir is located in the western part of Turkey on the Aegean cost, and is the country’s third most populous city. Being a major international seaport, it is also renowned for its historic legacy starting from the Ancient times to the Ottoman rule, and remains one of the highly visited business and resort destinations in Turkey.
In 2017, more than 723,000 passengers took direct flights between St. Petersburg and Turkish cities, making Turkey one of the leading foreign markets in the route network of Pulkovo Airport.
For the nine months of 2018 alone, direct traffic between Pulkovo airport and points in Turkey grew by 23% year-on-year and amounted to 753,000 passengers.
In the IATA Winter 2018/2019, Pulkovo St. Petersburg Airport offers scheduled flights to Istanbul and Antalya.
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