Sheremetyevo International Airport (IATA: SVO,
ICAO: UUEE), named after A.S. Pushkin, is an international airport
of great importance to the Russian federal government, one of the
four main airports in Moscow and the Moscow region, and the number
one in Russia by passenger volume. It is one of the ten busiest hubs
in Europe and one of the 50 busiest airports in the world.
It
is served by Russia's national carrier, Aeroflot Russian Airlines
(the airline's hub), as well as several other airlines. It is
located northwest of Moscow, in downtown Khimki, Moscow Oblast,
about the same distance (a few kilometers) from the cities of
Khimki, Lobnja, and Dolgoprudny. The distance from the Moscow ring
road along the Leningradskoye highway to Terminal A is 13 km, and to
Terminals D, E, and F is 9 km.
Sheremetyevo Airport has six
passenger terminals: A (business aviation terminal), B (former
Sheremetyevo 1), C (opening January 17, 2020), D, E, F (former
Sheremetyevo 2), and two cargo terminals ("Moscow Cargo" and
"Sheremetyevo Cargo") C, D, E, F, and F (former Sheremetyevo 2).
Initially, the airfield was built as a central
airfield for the Soviet Union's military air force (VVS), and on
September 1, 1953, a resolution was passed by the USSR Council of
Ministers to build a central airfield in the area of the Chashnikov
settlement. The airfield was initially named "Sheremetyevsky" after the
nearby village of Sheremetyevsky and the Sheremetyevsky platform on the
Moscow railroad toward Savelovsky; in 1957, three platforms with a
runway, main taxiway, connecting taxiway, and parking space; the Central
Control Center building began operations.
In 1959, under
Khrushchev's direction, the airfield was transferred from the Soviet
Ministry of Defense to the Civil Aviation Administration. The official
opening date of Sheremetyevo International Airport was August 11, 1959.
On this day, the first Tu-104 liner carrying passengers from Leningrad
entered service. The idea for the creation of the international airport
came from the former head of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev. According to
his contemporaries, he was so impressed by the size of London's Heathrow
Airport during a state visit in 1956 that he flew back to the USSR, got
off the plane at the newly built Sheremetyevo military airfield, looked
around the wasteland, and said: "If such an airport can be built, now is
the time." His words became a guide for action, and on July 31, 1959,
Sheremetyevo Airport was organized on the basis of the former
Sheremetyevsky Military Airfield, and on August 11, 1959, a Tu-104
passenger plane taking off from Leningrad landed at the airport and the
airport service performed its first commercial and maintenance
operations. The first Sheremetyevo terminal was a small building of the
Central Control Center, next to the current Terminal B (Sheremetyevo 1).
On June 1, 1960, the first international flight on the Moscow
(Sheremetyevo) - Schönefeld route was made by Il-18 aircraft of the
Vnukovo squadron; with Tu-104, Il-14 and Il-18 aircraft, Aeroflot
operated international flights from Sheremetyevo Airport to 23 countries
In the first year of operation, Aeroflot carried 50,000 passengers. In
its first year of operation, the airport carried 50,000 passengers and
3,000 tons of mail and cargo.
On February 11, 1964, an order was
issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation "On the Organization of
the General Directorate of International Air Route Transport of the
Civil Aviation Fleet" including Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport and the
International Aviation Group of the Moscow Directorate of Transport
Aviation based at Sheremetyevo Airport; September 3, 1964, The first
passengers arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport Terminal 1. The terminal
building was constructed in an advanced architectural style by the
standards of the late 1960s, and for a time was the best Soviet building
of its type in terms of originality. The overwhelming presence was the
landing wing, known as "Glass" and for many years the highlight of the
exterior of Sheremetyevo International Airport, where a team of
architects led by G. Elkin, Yu. Kryukov and M. Gurevich worked on the
terminal project.
The first flight from Sheremetyevo to New York
took place on November 20, 1967; by 1970, Sheremetyevo Airport was the
largest airport in the USSR.
Between 1972 and 1975, a new runway
(RWY-2) was constructed.
On November 17, 1977, on the eve of the
Moscow Olympics, work began on the foundation of a new terminal,
Sheremetyevo No. 2, built on the site of the former international
terminal On May 6, 1980, the grand opening of Sheremetyevo Terminal 2
was held In 1980, during the Moscow Olympics Sheremetyevo Airport was
used by more than 460,000 foreign passengers during the 1980 Moscow
Olympics. In 1985, Sheremetyevo Airport handled 3.5 million passengers.
Regular flights to foreign countries were made on 172 routes to 122
points in 97 countries around the world. In the same year, an
international cargo terminal was opened with a capacity of up to 150,000
tons.
On November 11, 1991, Sheremetyevo International Airport
was granted the legal status of a state-owned enterprise.
In
1997, reconstruction of the first runway was completed. The new runway
was laid over the old concrete pavement.
In the early 2000s,
Sheremetyevo Airport began to face problems associated with increased
security standards and insufficient capacity due to inconvenient ground
transportation to Moscow. These problems were to be solved by the
construction of two new terminals and rail connections to the Savelovsky
(June 10, 2008 - May 30, 2010) and Belorussky (August 28, 2009 - )
stations.
In March 2007, the new international terminal C with a
four-story parking garage for 2,500 cars was opened; on March 12, 2007,
Terminal C opened for the first flight on the Vilnius - Moscow
(Sheremetyevo) - Vilnius route; on June 14, 2007, by order of Russian
Ministry of Transport No. 78, An international air terminal (Terminal C)
was opened as part of the state border checkpoint.
By the fall of
2007, more than 70 airlines were operating regular flights to
Sheremetyevo International Airport. Over 15 million passengers passed
through the Sheremetyevo terminal that year. On March 5, 2008, after two
years of reconstruction, the second runway (RWY-2) was opened to
traffic. Runway 2 can accommodate all types of aircraft, including
wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
In 2009, the modernization of Terminal F (formerly Sheremetyevo-2)
was completed, the sterile zone was completely reconstructed, partitions
were removed, space was opened to the maximum extent, and the duty-free
zone was optimized; on August 28, 2009, a regular rail link between the
airport and Belorussky station in Moscow was opened; on August 28, 2009,
the airport opened its first regular rail line to the public; on
November 15, 2009, Terminal D was opened to the public. On November 15,
2009, Terminal D was put into service, allowing flights of Aeroflot
Russian Airlines and SkyTeam member airlines. 2010, International
Terminal E was opened, and Terminals D and F and the Aero-Express
railroad station were integrated into one South Terminal In the winter
of 2012, Terminal A opened for business aviation customers. This
terminal belongs to Avia Group, a subsidiary of Sheremetyevo Airport.
In 2018, as part of the Great Names of Russia competition, it was
decided to name the airport after Alexander Pushkin, and since June 2019
the airport has been named after Pushkin.
As a result of the
asset consolidation of JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport, the
joint-stock company is owned by Sheremetyevo Holding (66.06%, 100% owned
by Sheremetyevo Holding, and 65.22% by the latter). Alexander
Ponomarenko and Alexander Skorobogatko's (34.78% owned by a family
trust, 34.78% by Arkady Rotenberg), Federal Agency for Real Estate
Management (30.46%), Aeroflot Russian Airlines (2.43%), and VEB Capital
LLC (1.05%). Mikhail Vasilenko is the General Director of JSC
Sheremetyevo International Airport (since May 12, 2005).
Construction of the third runway, 3200 m long and 60 m wide, began in
October 2015. E.I. Ditliv, Russian Ministry of Transport; A.V. Neradko,
Head of Federal Air Transport Agency; A.Yu. Vorobyov, Governor of Moscow
Region; A. A. Ponomarenko, Chairman of SIA JSC Board of Directors The
construction of the strip is due to increased number of flights,
including partial transfer of flights from Vnukovo to Sheremetyevo due
to the relocation of some flights from Vnukovo to Sheremetyevo.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the number of takeoffs and
landings per hour at the airport will increase from 55 to 90 after the
opening of the third runway. The first plane to land on the runway was
an Aeroflot Airbus A320 arriving from St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport.
Reasons for the delay in project implementation included court cases
with residents regarding the purchase of land for construction
(housing), the complex geological structure of the area, the time taken
to resolve issues related to the relocation of gas and oil pipelines,
and difficulties in registering the land for the site. The runway was
put into operation through an unusual architectural solution: the
construction of an overpass spanning the Sheremetyevskoye highway and
the Kryazma River, and a taxiway from the airport terminal to the runway
along the overpass.
In May 2020, Terminal E was closed due to a
decrease in passenger traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Terminal
F was closed for reconstruction at the end of 2021, and Terminal D and
one runway from the runway were closed in March 2022.
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 Airport is a Class A airfield capable of
receiving all types of domestic and foreign aircraft. The airport was
designated in 2002 under the IIIA category by ICAO and is capable of
landing aircraft with a vertical visibility of at least 15 m and a
runway visibility of at least 175 m. The airport has two parallel
runways: 06R/24L (RWY), 3700 m long, and 06R/24L (RWY), 2400 m long.
The airport has two parallel runways: 06R/24L (RWY-2), 3700 m long,
and 06C/24C (RWY-C (center), formerly designated as RWY-1), 3550 m long,
with cement concrete and reinforced concrete pavement. However, due to
the insufficient distance between the runways (280 m), they cannot be
used as two completely independent runways. Therefore, takeoffs and
landings from the two runways are at the same safety intervals as from a
single runway.Construction of a third runway began in 2015 and opened on
September 19, 2019. It is 3200 m long (RWY-3) and is located north of
Terminals A and B. A minimum of 90 takeoffs and landings is required
when using runways-2, C, and 3, and a minimum of 70 takeoffs and
landings when using runways-2 and 3.
This restriction is
specifically related to Russian and ICAO aviation regulations. There are
airports around the world that have successfully operated both runways
in parallel, even at airports with short distances between runways. For
example, at San Francisco Airport, which has two sets of runways with a
distance of 230 m between runways, the operation of the third runway in
2008 allowed up to 84 aircraft per hour; at Sheremetyevo Airport in
2018, takeoffs and landings of 55-65 aircraft per hour took place
(January 2018 27, the number reached 69 aircraft).
In 2011,
Sheremetyevo Airport opened the Airport Control Center. The Airport
Control Center is a strategic project that not only manages business
processes and quickly coordinates the joint efforts of all participants
in the aircraft, passenger, and baggage service process, but also
monitors and analyzes the situation on Sheremetyevo territory in real
time.
Sheremetyevo Airport has installed a three-stage automated
baggage inspection system using MVT-HR Introscope and multifunctional
tomography Examiner (3DX6500). For passenger inspection, the
ProVision-100 portal scanner and SafeScout 100mm range are used.
Sheremetyevo Airport also has the following security systems in place to
prevent air accidents and prevent unlawful acts of sabotage
Baggage
screening
Integrated video surveillance system
Profiling
(psychological testing methods)
Psynological services
Sheremetyevo
Airport has established the 20/40 passenger service standard, whereby
the first baggage is distributed to passengers 20 minutes after the
aircraft is parked and the last baggage is distributed to passengers 40
minutes later.