ST. PETERSBURG, July 19. /ITAR-TASS/. A new terminal for domestic flights connected with the existing Terminal 1 and Pulkovo 1 buildings will be commissioned at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport between 2018 and 2025, consortium Vozdushnye Vorota Severnoi Stolitsy (VVSS), or Northern Capital Gateway Consortium, (VVSS) Director-General Sergei Emdin said on Saturday, July 19.
After renovation, Pulkovo-1 will receive the first domestic flights in January 2015 and almost double the number of boarding gates from 12 now to 21.
The construction of technical and maintenance buildings, a terminal pier finger with extra bus gates and two moving sidewalks at Pulkovo-1, two boarding bridges in the international flights area and a high-speed taxiway will begin next year to be completed in 2017.
A new terminal connecting two buildings of the airport, the eastern and southern piers with extra boarding bridges and parking places, new apron areas and a second power centre will be built in 2018-2025.
Pulkovo Airport ranks third in Russia in terms of passenger flow. It receives and dispatches flights from and to 164 destinations. Flights are performed by 34 foreign, 24 Russian and 15 CIS airlines.
Terminal 1 was commissioned on December 4, 2013. Its capacity after modernisation will increase to about 17 million passengers a year.
Pulkovo Airport, which is owned by the St. Petersburg government, is the largest airport in northwest Russia. By 2040, the airport is expected to be able to receive up to 30 million passengers a year.
In September 2007, the British architecture company Grimshaw won the competition held by the City to build a new terminal at Pulkovo Airport. Chris Crombie of Grimshaw Architects, one of the authors of the new terminal’s architectural concept, said the surrounding area had been designed in such a way as to offer a full view of the airport's unusual roof to the approaching vehicles.
The British company Pascall+Watson Architects designed two high-rise buildings - a hotel for 220 rooms and a business centre.
Crombie said all buildings would be linked together by one pedestrian space. The concept also calls for building outdoor and indoor parking lots for 1,200 automobiles, and a high-speed tramline that will link the airport with the city's Moskovsky (Moscow) Railway Terminal.
In April 2008 - June 2010, NCG (Northern Capital Gateway) Consortium was awarded a 30-year concession. Starting April 29, 2010 NCG ran the airport under the Public-Private Partnership Agreement and focuses on Grimshaw architectural design implementation.
NCG is a consortium, set up by Russian VTB Capital Plc (VTB), international Fraport AG Company and Greek Copelouzos Group.
On November 24, 2010, then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for Pulkovo Airport’s new terminal. The new terminal is set to make the airport into the biggest airport in the Baltic region and an international hub. The new terminal was unveiled at the end of 2013.
On May 26, 2011, NCG hired a general contractor - a Joint Venture of Astaldi (Italy) and ICA (Turkey).
On December 4, 2013, new Terminal 1 began operating. The first flight was carried to Dusseldorf by Rossiya Airlines. The total area of the terminal exceeds 110,000 square metres and has a maximum capacity of 17 million passengers a year.