The Pulkovo Airport was named Shosseynaya Airport until the name was changed to Pulkovo Airport in 1973. The airport's IATA code (LED) is derived from the former name of Saint Petersburg: Leningrad.
The airport was opened in 1932 as a civilian domestic airport. A new terminal was being build when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and the site of the airport became the front line during the Siege of Leningrad. After the war civilian flights were quickly resumed and the new terminal was completed in 1951. The airport reached it peak of ten million passengers in 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, passenger numbers declined with 50% after that and only recently has the airport reached it former peak. The airport has one, new terminal.
The Pulkovo Airport is located 25 km south of Saint Petersburg, the second-largest city of Russia.
There are several buses which can bring you to one of the Moskovskaya metro station of Saint Petersburg. From there you can easily change to a metro (line 2) to the city center. The buses depart frequently except at night. You can take city bus line 39, line 39Ex and minibus K39. Fare is RUB 40 and travel time is 20 minutes. The metro will take another 20 minutes.
See for tickets and schedule: buses: pulkovoairport.ru .
Taxis can be booked at the booths in the arrivals hall. Prices are fixed depending your destination; the fare for a destination in the city center will be RUB 900 to 1000. Travel time is half an hour, but can easily be an hour in rush hour.
All prices quoted here were found in July 2017