During a presentation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was told about the current state of the airport and shown exhibitions stands showing what it will be like in the future.

The modernisation and reconstruction of Pulkovo Airport will be carried out in two stages. A new passenger terminal with a traffic capacity of 13 million people will be built during the first stage (2010-2013). The plan provides for increasing traffic capacity to 22 million people by 2025.

After the presentation, Putin went to the site where the first pile of the future terminal was being installed in a groundbreaking ceremony. Workers told him that the pile installed as a foundation is 26 metres long and that hundreds of such piles will be mounted. The pile's fittings were first put into the ground by a crane and a special truck began pouring in concrete for casting the pile.

Putin threw some coins into the pile out of tradition. Foreign participants in the project found some euros and followed suit. The specialists controlling the process said that the pile would become a "buried treasure."

"In that case we'll have to dig it out later on," the prime minister joked.

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Pulkovo Airport is currently Russia's fourth largest airport in terms of passenger traffic capacity. More than 7.5 million people used it over ten months of this year. Thirty one foreign airlines, as well as 29 domestic and 11 CIS companies carry out regular flights to and from Pulkovo Airport.