As of 23 April 2017, airlines operating on the St. Petersburg — Helsinki line will obtain a right to 21 passenger flights each way a week each instead of 14 now, the Russian state aviation agency claimed on its website. Nowadays, in fact, only one carrier, Finnair, is operating on the route. The move makes it possible for Finnair and Helsinki Vantaa airport to enhance the Vantaa’s popularity as a transit hub serving transcontinental flights to and from St. Petersburg.
Currently, two airlines are entitled to fly between the two cities, Finnair and Rossiya (Russia). Rossiya, the St. Petersburg-based subsidiary of the Russian avia giant Aeroflot, quit the route because found it unprofitable. The Finnish flag carrier has historically been operating between Helsinki and St. Petersburg for years bringing a lot of Russian travellers for its connection flights to other European, Asian and American destinations.
Finnair now runs two daily flights with departures from St. Petersburg at 13.05 and в 20.35, from Helsinki at 10.30 and 18.00.
The alternative ways to get to Helsinki from St. Petersburg are by car, by bus or by the Allegro or Leo Tolstoy trains with the bus option being the cheapest (from just $10 one way). The ferry route is suspended till April.
Read also our post about other ways to get to St. Petersburg.
In December 2016, the Dutch KLM announced it would double the number of flights from Amsterdam to St. Petersburg.