Plane Diverted to Helsinki Resumes Flight to St. Petersburg

A passenger aircraft that made an unscheduled landing at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport due to the temporary closure of St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport has continued its journey to Russia, Finnish authorities confirmed Monday evening.

The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard stated on X that the aircraft had exited Finnish airspace. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 indicated the Egyptian Nesma Airlines flight, registered as NMA690D, landed at Pulkovo International Airport shortly before 7 p.m. local time. The plane had departed Helsinki-Vantaa around 6 p.m.

Passengers had been directed to the terminal to await departure after the aircraft, en route from an undisclosed origin to St. Petersburg, was forced to divert to Helsinki-Vantaa overnight. The diversion occurred because Pulkovo Airport was closed for security reasons, a recurring measure during the war in Ukraine.

St. Petersburg’s airport lies approximately 160 kilometers from the Ust-Luga oil terminal, which—alongside the Primorsk (Koivisto) terminal—has faced repeated drone attacks. Ukrainian strikes targeted Primorsk on the night between Sunday and Monday, with Ust-Luga hit in a separate drone assault on Wednesday.