Sheremetyevo International Airport named after A.
S. Pushkin (IATA: SVO, ICAO: UUEE) is a Russian international
airport of federal significance, one of the four main airports in
Moscow and the Moscow region, the first in Russia in terms of
passenger traffic. It is one of the ten hub airports in Europe and
the 50 busiest airports in the world.
Serves flights of the
national carrier of Russia - Aeroflot - Russian Airlines (it is the
airline's hub) and some other airlines. It is located to the
north-west of Moscow, on the territory of the urban district of
Khimki, Moscow Region, approximately at the same distance (several
kilometers) from the cities of Khimki, Lobnya and Dolgoprudny. The
distance from the Moscow Ring Road along the Leningradskoye highway
to terminal A is 13 kilometers, to terminals D, E and F - 9
kilometers.
Sheremetyevo Airport includes six passenger
terminals: A (business aviation terminal), B (formerly
Sheremetyevo-1), C (opened on January 17, 2020), D, E and F
(formerly Sheremetyevo-2) and two cargo ("Moscow-Cargo" and
"Sheremetyevo-Cargo").
General information
Initially, the airfield was
built as the Central Airfield of the Air Force (VVS) of the Soviet Army
of the USSR Armed Forces. On September 1, 1953, a resolution was issued
by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the construction of the
Central Air Force Airfield in the area of the settlement of
Chashnikov. The airfield was originally named "Sheremetyevsky" after two
nearby objects - the residential village of Sheremetyevsky and the
Sheremetyevsky platform of the Savelovsky direction of the Moscow
Railway. In 1957, a runway, main and connecting taxiways, three
platforms with aircraft parking spaces, and buildings of the Central
Control Center were put into operation.
In 1959, the airfield was
transferred from the Ministry of Defense of the USSR to civil aviation
at the direction of N. S. Khrushchev. The official opening date of
Sheremetyevo International Airport is August 11, 1959. On this day, the
company's services for the first time served the Tu-104 liner, which
delivered passengers from Leningrad. The initiator of the creation of
the international airport was the head of the USSR N. S. Khrushchev.
According to contemporaries, he was so impressed by the scope of
Heathrow Airport in London, where he made a state visit in 1956, that,
having flown back to the USSR and getting off the plane at the newly
built Sheremetyevo military airfield, he looked around the wasteland and
said: “It's time to if only we could build such an airport.” His words
were taken as a guide to action, and on July 31, 1959, the Sheremetyevo
airport was organized on the basis of the former Sheremetyevsky military
airfield, and on August 11 of the same year, the Tu-104 airliner, which
took off from Leningrad, landed at the airport where the airport
services first performed commercial and maintenance services. The first
Sheremetyevo terminal was a small building of the Central Control
Center, located next to the current Terminal B (Sheremetyevo-1).
On June 1, 1960, the first international flight was made on the route
Moscow (Sheremetyevo) - Schönefeld on an Il-18 aircraft of the Vnukovo
air squadron. With Tu-104, Il-14 and Il-18 aircraft, Aeroflot operated
flights from Sheremetyevo to 23 foreign countries. During the first year
of operation, the airport served 50,000 passengers and 3,000 tons of
mail and cargo. Since 1961, Sheremetyevo has operated special, charter
and regular flights to Cuba, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and
Australia.
On February 11, 1964, an order was issued by the head
of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet “On the organization of
the Transport Directorate of International Air Lines of the Civil Air
Fleet”, which included the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport and the
international air group of the Moscow Transport Aviation Directorate
based at Sheremetyevo. On September 3, 1964, the Sheremetyevo-1 airport
terminal received its first passengers. The terminal building was built
in an advanced architectural style by the standards of the late 1960s
and, in its originality, was at one time the best of the Soviet
structures of this type. The architectural dominant was the landing
building, which was popularly called "Glass" and became a highlight in
the appearance of Sheremetyevo International Airport for many years. A
team of architects led by G. Elkin, Yu. Kryukov and M. Gurevich worked
on the terminal project.
On November 20, 1967, the first flight
from Sheremetyevo to New York took place. By 1970, Sheremetyevo Airport
had become the largest in the USSR.
In 1972-1975, a new runway
(RWY-2) was built.
On the eve of the Moscow Olympics on November
17, 1977, the first stone was laid in the foundation of the new
Sheremetyevo-2 terminal, located on the site of the old international
airlines terminal. On May 6, 1980, the grand opening of the
Sheremetyevo-2 terminal took place. In 1980, during the month of the
Olympic Games in Moscow, Sheremetyevo Airport served more than 460,000
foreign passengers.
In 1985, Sheremetyevo Airport served 3.5
million passengers. Regular flights to foreign countries were carried
out on 172 routes to 122 points in 97 countries of the world. In the
same year, an international cargo terminal was put into operation with a
capacity of up to 150,000 tons.
On November 11, 1991,
Sheremetyevo International Airport received the legal status of a
state-owned enterprise.
In 1997, the reconstruction of runway-1
was completed. The new runway lay on top of the old concrete pavement.
In the first half of the 2000s, Sheremetyevo began to experience
problems associated with a lack of capacity due to increased security
standards and inconvenient means of ground transportation to Moscow.
These problems were intended to be solved by the construction of two new
terminals and a railway connection to Savelovsky Station (June 10, 2008
- May 30, 2010) and Belorussky Station (from August 28, 2009).
In
March 2007, a new international terminal C was opened with a four-level
parking for 2,500 cars. On March 12, 2007, Terminal C served the first
flight on the route Vilnius — Moscow (Sheremetyevo) — Vilnius. On June
14, 2007, by order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia No. 78, an
international air terminal (terminal C) was opened as part of a state
border checkpoint with a capacity of 1,500 passengers per hour with a
round-the-clock operation.
By the autumn of 2007, more than 70
airlines fly to Sheremetyevo International Airport on a regular basis.
During the year, more than 15 million passengers passed through the
Sheremetyevo terminals. This is one fifth of the total number of
passengers departed from Russian airports. On March 5, 2008, after a
two-year reconstruction, the second runway (RWY-2) was opened. Its
length is 3700 m, width - 60 m. Runway-2 is able to receive all types of
aircraft, including wide-body aircraft Airbus A380 and Boeing 787
Dreamliner.
In 2009, the modernization of terminal F (formerly
Sheremetyevo-2) was completed: the sterile zone was completely rebuilt,
partitions were removed, the space was opened to the maximum and the
Duty Free zone was optimized. On August 28, 2009, a regular railway
service was opened between the Belorussky railway station in Moscow and
the airport. On November 15, 2009, Terminal D was put into operation,
serving flights of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines and its partners in the
SkyTeam alliance. In 2010, the international terminal E was opened,
uniting terminals D and F and the Aeroexpress railway station into a
single South terminal complex. In the winter of 2012, Terminal A was
opened, serving business aviation customers. The terminal belongs to a
subsidiary of Sheremetyevo Airport, Avia Group.
In 2018, as part
of the Great Names of Russia competition, it was decided to name the
airport in honor of Alexander Pushkin, and since June 2019 the airport
has been named after him.
As a result of the consolidation of the
assets of JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport, the owners of the
joint-stock company became Sheremetyevo Holding (66.06%, wholly owned by
Sheremetyevo Holding; in the latter, 65.22% owned by the family trust of
Alexander Ponomarenko and Alexander Skorobogatko, 34.78 % - from Arkady
Rotenberg), the Federal Property Management Agency (30.46%), Aeroflot
PJSC (2.43%), VEB Capital LLC (1.05%). General Director of Sheremetyevo
International Airport JSC (since May 12, 2005) - Mikhail Vasilenko.
Since October 2015, the construction of a new runway No. 3 with a
length of 3200 m and a width of 60 m has begun. Transport of Russia E.
I. Ditrikh, Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency A. V. Neradko,
Governor of the Moscow Region A. Yu. Vorobyov, Chairman of the Board of
Directors of SIA JSC A. A. Ponomarenko. The construction of the strip
was due to an increase in the number of flights, including due to the
transfer of part of the flights to Sheremetyevo from Vnukovo. According
to the Ministry of Transport, after the opening of runway-3, the airport
will be able to increase the number of take-off and landing operations
per hour, from 55 to 90. The first plane to land on the runway was an
Aeroflot Airbus A320, which arrived on the opening day from Pulkovo
Airport in St. Petersburg . Among the reasons for the delay in the
implementation of the project were: courts with residents on the
purchase of land (housing) for construction, the complex geological
structure of the area, the long settlement of issues related to the
transfer of the gas pipeline and the oil pipeline, as well as the
difficulty in registering the sites. The runway was put into operation
through an unusual architectural solution: the construction of an
overpass across the Sheremetyevskoye Highway and the Klyazma River,
along which a taxiway runs from the airport terminals to the runway.
In May 2020, due to a decrease in passenger traffic amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, Terminal E was closed, since the end of 2021,
Terminal F was closed due to reconstruction, and in March 2022, Terminal
D and one from the runways.
2012 - "The best airport in the European region"
according to the ACI rating
In 2012, Sheremetyevo International
Airport won the 13th annual business award "Company of the Year" in the
nomination "Transport, Logistics" according to the Russian business
magazine "Company".
On March 12, 2013, it was awarded the title of
“Best Airport in Europe in terms of passenger service quality” according
to the quality level research (ASQ) program of Airports Council
International (ACI).
On May 16, 2013, Sheremetyevo Airport became a
laureate of the Adam Smith Institute award in the nomination "The Best
Airport Reconstruction Project in Russia and the CIS".
2014 - silver
medalist in the nomination "Best Airport in the European Region"
according to the ACI rating
2016 - silver medalist in the nomination
"Best Airport in the European Region" and the first in the category of
25-40 million passengers according to the ACI rating
2017 - silver
medalist in the nomination "The best airport in the European region" and
the first in the category of 25-40 million passengers according to the
ACI rating
2018 - entered the list of the best airports in the world
- ACI Director General's Roll of Excellence.
2018 - the best in terms
of quality of service in the category of the largest airports in Europe
with a passenger flow of more than 40 million people according to the
ACI rating.
Sheremetyev's achievements in the implementation of a
large-scale project for the construction of a new passenger terminal A
of Vladivostok airport, which became one of the most important
facilities for the preparation of Vladivostok and Primorsky Krai for the
APEC-2012 summit, were noted with a professional award.
In 2019,
Sheremetyevo Airport won the VEB.RF Development Award. The project for
the comprehensive modernization of the Northern Terminal Complex (STK)
was recognized as the winner in the nomination "Best Infrastructure
Project"
2019 - the best in terms of quality of service in the
category of the largest airports in Europe with a passenger flow of more
than 40 million people according to the ACI rating.
2020 - included
in the Voice of the Customer Airports Council International list - 140
airports most active in the implementation of the ASQ ACI program in the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 is the best in terms of
quality of service in the category of the largest airports in Europe
with a passenger flow of more than 40 million people according to the
ACI rating.
Sheremetyevo is an A-class airfield capable of
receiving all types of aircraft, both domestic and foreign. In 2002, the
airport was assigned IIIA ICAO category, which allows landing aircraft
with a vertical visibility of at least 15 m and a visibility range on
the runway of at least 175 m. - landing strip not less than 125 m,
aircraft of category D not less than 150 m, without restrictions on
vertical visibility.
The airport has two parallel runways:
06R/24L (RWY-2) with a length of 3700 m and 06C/24C (RWY-C (central),
previously designated as RWY-1) with a length of 3550 m with cement
concrete and reinforced concrete pavement. However, the insufficient
distance between the runways (280 m) does not allow them to be used as
two completely independent runways. Therefore, takeoff and landing from
two runways is carried out with the same safety intervals as from one
runway. In 2015, the construction of the 3rd runway began, which ended
with its opening on September 19, 2019 with a length of 3200 m (RWY-3),
which is located north of terminals A and B. With such a length, it will
be able to accept all types, however, for takeoff of super heavy
aircraft (B-747, B-777, MD11, An-124 and A-380) will have a takeoff
weight restriction. When using runways-2, C, 3 - at least 90 takeoff and
landing operations, when using runways-2 and 3 - at least 70.
The
restrictions are related, among other things, to the aviation
regulations of Russia and ICAO. There are airports in the world with a
shorter distance between the runways that successfully practice the
parallel operation of both lanes: for example, the San Francisco
airport, which has two pairs of runways with a distance between them of
230 m. in 2008, the operation of the third lane) provided operations of
up to 84 aircraft per hour. In Sheremetyevo in 2018, 55-65 takeoff and
landing operations per hour are provided (on January 27, 2018, the value
of 69 was reached).
In 2011, Sheremetyevo opened the Airport
Control Center. The Airport Control Center is a strategic project that
allows you to manage business processes, quickly coordinate the joint
work of all participants in the processes of servicing aircraft,
passengers and baggage, as well as monitor and analyze the situation on
the Sheremetyevo territory in real time.
Sheremetyevo has a
three-level automatic baggage screening system, which uses MVT-HR
introscopes and a multifunctional Examiner tomograph (3DX 6500). Portal
scanners ProVision-100 and SafeScout 100 mm range are used for screening
passengers.
In order to prevent aviation accidents and prevent
acts of unlawful interference, Sheremetyevo also has such security
systems as:
screening of luggage and hand luggage;
integrated
video surveillance system;
profiling (method of psychological
testing);
work of the cynological service.
Sheremetyevo Airport
has a 20/40 passenger service standard for contact stands, according to
which the first piece of baggage is issued to passengers as early as 20
minutes after the aircraft is parked (under the air bridge), the last
one after 40 minutes.