Proposing to withdraw some flights from Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo

At a meeting of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the development of the Moscow air hub, officials and market participants began to seriously discuss the transfer of part of the air traffic from Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo to secondary airports in the Moscow region. In this way, the parties hope to solve the problem of congestion at large airports. But small airports lack the infrastructure necessary to service flights and are difficult to reach.

In addition to the merger of Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, at a meeting on the development of Moscow airports held on Monday evening, chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the possibility of unloading them was discussed. The discussion was about transferring part of the flights (charters, business aviation, special flights) from Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo to other airports of the Moscow air hub. The Ministry of Transport believes that in this way it is possible to solve the infrastructure problems of large airports and partially relieve the air zone around them.

In his report, Transport Minister Igor Levitin emphasized that the implementation of the civil aviation development program until 2020 requires significant budget support, the size of which is growing at a “rapid pace.” “This is especially noticeable during the construction of new infrastructure facilities,” the minister clarified. “Under these conditions, it seems appropriate to further consider the possibility of using the existing infrastructure of state and experimental aviation throughout the Moscow zone.”

Vladimir Putin supported the idea. “In Moscow, not everything has been used yet,” the prime minister noted. “There is also a wonderful strip in Ramenskoye, no less than Sheremetyevo, and it is almost not used.” Between Ramenskoye and Zhukovsky, approximately 40 km from Moscow, there is the Gromov Flight Research Institute airfield, which has the longest runway in Europe (5.4 km). It can accept any aircraft without restrictions. Now the airfield is used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as a number of small airlines for cargo flights. “All low-cost flights could be completely transferred there,” Vladimir Putin suggested, noting that servicing cheap flights to Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo is “quite expensive.”

The head of the analytical agency "Airport" Oleg Panteleev explains that airfields in Kubinka (40 km from Moscow), Chkalovsky (31 km), airports Bykovo (15 km) and Ostafyevo (12 km) can theoretically also claim part of the passenger traffic from the largest Moscow airports ). The latter is already home to the Gazpromavia airline, which has built all the necessary infrastructure and is actively developing business transportation and business charter programs.

But, the expert clarifies, the problem is not the runways, but the lack of infrastructure and difficult transport accessibility of airfields. For example, in Ramenskoye there are big problems with lighting equipment, which makes it difficult to receive aircraft at night, explains Oleg Panteleev. And in Zhukovsky, he adds, every two years in August the MAKS air show is held, which will interfere with the reception and departure of flights. Bykovo, the expert notes, has already lost its certificate, and there are high-rise residential buildings around it; in Chkalovsky there is practically no infrastructure as such.

Therefore, Oleg Panteleev believes, transferring charters, regular low-cost flights, as well as special transportation and limited-time flights to small airports is problematic. But, the expert clarifies, this may make sense in relation to business transportation. Kubinka, in particular, may qualify for these flights. The expert recalled that Kubinka Airport CJSC (a subsidiary of the Nafta-Moscow company of businessman Suleiman Kerimov) in July 2010 acquired a plot at Kubinka Airport from an auction of the Ministry of Defense in order to build a terminal there. For now, the airfield will be used jointly with the Ministry of Defense, but most of the military will soon be transferred to Lipetsk.

Ekaterina Sobol

The Prime Minister cleared air traffic