Robots at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport Have Helped Raise Staff Pay
The airport’s CEO has explained how deploying robots has translated into higher wages for employees.
The rollout of advanced technologies and robots at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport has made it possible to keep staff salaries 5–10 percent above the market average. That was disclosed by Leonid Sergeev, CEO of Vozdushnye Vorota Severnoy Stolitsy LLC (Northern Capital Gateway), the airport’s operator.
The company has moved beyond the testing phase and has already signed its first contract for the delivery of 45 autonomous baggage tractors, the business daily Vedomosti reported. Large-scale deployment of the autonomous equipment is set to begin in 2026.
At the same time, the airport is testing unmanned patrol rovers for perimeter security, as well as robotic systems for cleaning indoor areas. The operator aims to have a full technological foundation in place by the end of this year to roll out these systems and later expand the fleet to include autonomous snowplows and lawn mowers.
Robots Take Over Routine Work
Robots are taking over routine tasks, eliminating the need to hire additional staff. This, in turn, allows the operator to raise base salaries for core employees. The Pulkovo experience could become a standard model for other transport hubs in Russia and worldwide.
Earlier, we reported that an artificial intelligence model developed at Far Eastern Federal University to optimize logistics at seaports has already proven its effectiveness. According to Evgeny Vlasov, the university’s vice rector for international relations, the technology makes it possible to cut operating costs by 5 percent.
