Passengers of Pulkovo Airport may face flight delays and lack of flight board

Starting from May 18, some passengers departing from St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport may face flight delays or go on a flight without on-board meals. The airlines operating flights to St. Petersburg have warned the airport management about this (Northern Capital Air Gate LLC, VVSS, operator Pulkovo) — Izvestia has read their appeals.

Recycling tricks: it is proposed to ban the export of food waste to landfills near airports

This approach will reduce the risks of aviation accidents due to the accumulation of birds.

We are talking about airline clients of catering companies that supply food to passengers (among them, the authors of the letters indicate Transpit North-West LLC).

The reason for the carriers' concern was the changes by the airport management in the location and technology of on-board food inspection, delivered to Pulkovo since May 18, follows from this correspondence. It will become virtually impossible to get and load them on board, they fear.

On-board catering suppliers were notified about upcoming changes in the field of legislation regulating transport safety back in 2024, Pulkovo noted.

"For its part, the Air Force additionally notified the airlines during the meeting on April 10, 2025. The vast majority of carriers have confirmed that the changes in legislation will not affect the maintenance of their flights," the airport's press service says.

At the same time, there were flight delays due to non-fulfillment of obligations by one of the suppliers.

The catering company Transpit North-West reported that they had contacted the airport management with suggestions for an early resolution of this issue.

However, some carriers disagree with the arguments of the airport. In particular, Yamal reported in its letter to the management of the air hub that the capacities of the Aeromar catering company operating in Pulkovo (part of Aeroflot) may not be enough, therefore flight delays are not excluded.

Ural Airlines also warned about possible flight delays due to the inability to load the onboard equipment of the previously selected supplier on time.

Fly Dubai has notified the airport management that if the Air Force management does not have a solution for on-board food inspection provided by a previously selected supplier, they will be forced to switch to loading it on return flights (operated from Pulkovo) from the base airport, since Aeromar currently does not have a Halal certificate. The selection of a new supplier requires detailed inspections and time-consuming corporate procedures, according to the airline's materials.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Delivery without food: Pulkovo passengers may face flight delays and lack of flight board