Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, has dropped plans to launch a direct route from Dublin to St. Petersburg.
"Recently we received confirmation from [Ryanair] that they will not launch the route in 2014," Yevgeny Ilyin, the commercial director of Northern Capital Gateway, which manages St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, said in comments carried by Interfax on Thursday.
Last year, Ryanair said it was negotiating with a number of Russian airports and could begin flights from Dublin in 2014.
Meanwhile, EasyJet, another major European low-cost airline, has backed away from its plans to begin flights between St. Petersburg and London.
Ilyin said Northern Capital Gateway was engaged in active negotiations with EasyJet in April but changes in international airline traffic at the time put a halt to the talks.
Russia annexed Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory, in late March, sparking the largest crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Six European low-cost airlines currently fly to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, which has seen over 8 million passengers this year.
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