Flights between Girona and Saint Petersburg to take wing next year

Girona Airport received some good news on Friday with the announcement that low-cost Russian carrier Pobeda Airlines will run twice-weekly flights between the north-eastern Catalan city and Saint Petersburg from summer 2018. Moreover, the Aeroflot subsidiary also revealed that from this summer its flights between Girona and Moscow will grow from two to three per week during the whole year, with the airline considering adding a fourth connection in 2018.

Pobeda Airlines estimates that by the end of the year some 38,000 passengers will have traveled on the route to and from the Russian capital and the carrier has set the target of 54,000 passengers next year. The firm’s Commercial Director Rinat Asmatullov claimed that Girona is an “attractive” market for the company, as the route could also work as a connecting flight to other Russian destinations, such as Yekaterinburg or Siberia.

The Catalan government representative for the Girona area, Eudald Casadesús, welcomed the announcement as a result of the efforts to increase the weight of the airport, located in the town of Vilobí d’Onyar. The infrastructure has seen a year-to-year fall in the number of passengers in the past eight years, from 5.5 million in 2008 to 1.6 million in 2016. Casadesús believes that the new connections with Russia will help the airport to break this trend and reach the two million threshold once again this year.

Girona Airport was for a long time dependent on flights operated by Ryanair, but the company has cut back on its activity there in the past few years in favour of Barcelona. “Ryanair will still be the one with greater frequency and destinations, but now we are beginning to have others making a not inconsiderable contribution,” concluded Casadesús.