IrAero Airlines plans to open direct regular flights from Pulkovo Airport to China from October 2018. Flights will be operated on comfortable two-class Boeing 777–200 aircraft to Hangzhou and to the island of Hainan in the cities of Sanya and Haikou.
"The route to China will grow - there is mutual interest from both our tourists and the Chinese tourists. From the end of October this year, we plan to start a regular flight program from St. Petersburg to three destinations in China - Sanya, Haikou and Hangzhou. Until the end of the year, flights will be operated with a regularity of one or two frequencies per week. From 2019, we are planning two frequencies," said Dmitry Kukanov, First Deputy General Director for Production at IrAero Airlines.
"We welcome the decision of IrAero Airlines to expand its route network from St. Petersburg. China is one of the fastest growing destinations for Pulkovo Airport. I am confident that new direct flights to Hainan and Hangzhou will be in demand among both tourists and business travelers," noted Evgeny Ilyin, Commercial Director of Pulkovo Airport's management company, Northern Capital Gateway LLC (NCG).
IrAero also operates daily flights from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and on Mondays and Thursdays to Irkutsk with a convenient connection in Barnaul.
The management company of Pulkovo Airport is actively developing transportation from the Northern capital to China. Direct regular flights are carried out from St. Petersburg to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi'an, Urumqi, Nanjing, Wuhan and Shenzhen, as well as charter flights to Guangzhou and Shanghai.
In December 2016, Pulkovo became the first Russian airport to receive the Welcome Chinese certificate from the China Academy of Tourism.
Source: trn-news.ru