Planenutz From United States, joined Dec 1999, 1179 posts, RR: 13 Posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 803 times:
I was looking into airfares between Western Europe and China, and surprisingly, one of the best value for money options is with Pulkovo Airlines, CDG to LED on a B735 then onto PEK via OVB (Novosibirsk) on a TU-154. It’s a rather round-a-bout way to go, departing CDG at 1215 and arriving into PEK at 2320 the following day. The connection in LED is for 15 hours, and the ground stop in OVB is for 1hr 30 min. Because the connection at LED is greater than 8 hours, and because it would be overnight, Pulkovo will provide free accommodation, breakfast, and ground transport at LED.
I didn’t really know that much about Pulkovo, so I decided to do some research. They seemto have an impressive route network, encompassing much of Europe and the CIS, in addition to Beijing, Shanghai, and Delhi. This led me to some questions that hopefully others can answer:
Is the airline profitable? I noticed that of the 34 international destinations they serve, 11 of them (36%) are served only once per week, and an additional 9destintions (25%) are served only twice per week. The only international destinations with daily service are HEL and CDG. It seems that the carrier would have difficulty turning a profit on routes that are so few and far between,
Do they plan on integrating more western types into their fleet? The Irish registred B735’s are used mostly to destinations in Western Europe plus BUD. The vast majority of their ops are with TU-154’s, with Tblisi, Sofia, and Kiev served with TU-134’s.
Does Pulkovo still operate the IL-86? I can’t seem locate any flights, not even domestic, that use this type, though all of their promotional materials say they operate them.
Airlittoralguy From France, joined Nov 2005, 186 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 792 times:
Pulkvo flies three times a day to FRA one time a week, and two times a day the other days as they do to many other places (CDG as you said, but also DUS MUC). I don't know much more about them but I think they are a good carrier.
RoseFlyer From United States, joined Feb 2004, 5614 posts, RR: 27 Reply 4, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 742 times:
I haven't flown them, but have seen them in LED. As much as it looks like a large airline, Pulkovo really isn't. They do not have that many planes, and do not operate routes with high frequenc. Although their hub is in a city of about 4 million people, there isn't that much air service to St. Petersburg. The airport is pretty small too.
Thomas_Jaeger From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 1896 posts, RR: 41 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 661 times:
They are in the process of being merged with Russia (or well the Pulkovo name will go, so basically being taken over by Russia). The new merged carrier will operate two hubs (St. Petesburg and Moscow Vnukovo) and from what I have seen they will move some of the Tu-204s to LED to operate some longer routes (i.e. to operate Beijing non-stop if I am not mistaken). Russia has also announced plans to lease a lot of second hand A32X aircraft over the next years, so there are interesting times ahead.
Swiss aviation news junkie living all over the place
Stylo777 From Turkey, joined Feb 2006, 2224 posts, RR: 8 Reply 7, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 578 times:
They fly to FRA with their TU-154 and the flights have a LF about 70-80%, but were almost on time. We have a lot of chinese groups here in FRA which connect via LED to china.
What about SU, AY and TK? Sometimes they all are very cheap from Europe to East-Asia.
Andaman From Finland, joined Oct 2005, 2698 posts, RR: 6 Reply 8, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 546 times:
Quoting Stylo777 (Reply 7): They fly to FRA with their TU-154 and the flights have a LF about 70-80%, but were almost on time. We have a lot of chinese groups here in FRA which connect via LED to china.
What about SU, AY and TK? Sometimes they all are very cheap from Europe to East-Asia.
Cheers
Ori
Finnair has very good offers to China and to other Asia at the moment, for example late June CDG-HEL-CAN was 650e, e-ticket.
HEL-CAN was just 399e. Sounds tempting to me.
Chinese cookie in SFO: "You're doomed to a life of forever travelling abroad and to be able to afford it!"
JGPH1A From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 427 times:
Quoting Thomas_Jaeger (Reply 5): They are in the process of being merged with Russia (or well the Pulkovo name will go, so basically being taken over by Russia).
Wow - didn't know that. There was a "Russia/Rossiya" plane at NCE the other week, an IL-62 - looked like a VIP/Command Post one - had the long satcom pod thing along the top of the fuselage from the base of the fin.
Pulkovo completed the migration of their Res/Inventory and DCS to Amadeus Altea last weekend, just by the way. Should make booking them a lot easier, and more reliable.
Planenutz From United States, joined Dec 1999, 1179 posts, RR: 13 Reply 11, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 395 times:
As I understand it, Rossiya is(was) 100% government controlled and provides most all government personnel transport to the far reached of all of Russia, plus charters to holiday dstinations. They also operate the presidential IL-96. For some time, Pulkovo had the franchise to operate Rossiya, and now both are being officially merged into one corporate entity. Is this correct?
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