Sheremetyevo International Airport
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sheremetyevo International Airport (IATA: SVO, ICAO: UUEE),
is an international airport in Moscow, Russia.
It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian
international airline Aeroflot and one of the three major
airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo International
Airport and Vnukovo (the IATA area code for Sheremetyevo,
Domodedovo and Vnukovo is MOW).
The airport handled 12.76 million passengers and 110,887
metric tonnes of cargo in 2006.
Sheremetyevo was opened on 11 August 1959; the first
international flight was on 1 June 1960 to
Berlin (Schönefeld Airport).
Sheremetyevo-1 (used by domestic flights) was
opened on 3 September 1964.
On 12 September 1967, the first scheduled passenger
flight of Tupolev Tu-134 departed from Sheremetyevo
(to Stockholm), followed by the first scheduled flight
of Ilyushin Il-62 (to Montreal) on 15 September.
Sheremetyevo-2, the larger of the two terminals, opened
on 1 January 1980 for the Moscow Olympics and is the
arrival and departure point for international flights.
Flights to cities in Russia and charter flights
arrive and depart from Sheremetyevo-1.
There is no physical connection between the two terminals;
they are essentially separate airports
using the same set of runways.
Such a layout is rather unusual worldwide; Perth
Airport in Western Australia and Davao International
Airport in Davao City are other examples.
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Transport and accessibility
It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours from
the city center to get to the airport.
The main road leading to the airport - Leningradskoe
Highway - can get clogged during the rush hour, often
resulting in passengers missing their flights.
Calling a cab from downtown Moscow to
Sheremetyevo costs around $30-40.
Slow buses and faster minivans (fixed price shared taxis,
known as marshrutkas) connect Sheremetyevo with
Moscow's extensive metro network.
In November 2004, an express train connection was
established from the Savyolovsky Rail Terminal to
the Lobnya station, 25 minutes down the
line, which is 7 km from the airport.
The rest of the route is by bus or taxi.
By January 2008, when the airport rail terminal
is complete in front of Terminal 2 (the future
Terminal B), trains will run from Belorussky
Rail Terminal downtown Moscow all the way to
the airport, taking about 35 minutes.
Ongoing construction
In the 2000s Sheremetyevo saw growing competition
from a newer and more comfortable
Domodedovo International Airport.
With major airlines leaving Sheremetyevo
(most notably, British Airways, Iberia Airlines,
Austrian Airlines Group and Swiss International
Air Lines), the need for reconstruction
has become ever more evident.
Upgrading the airport will include construction
of a new terminal, Sheremetyevo-3 (Terminal A),
served by Sheremetyevo's anchor tenant Aeroflot
and its SkyTeam partners.
It is slated for completion by January 2008; by
that time more than 15 million passengers a year
will be passing through
Sheremetyevo's various terminals.
A brand new, state-of-the-art, Terminal C,
costing an estimated US$87.7 million is now
completed beside the old Terminal 1 and has
welcomed its first passengers.
The terminal is also painted in the new
Aeroflot orange and blue color scheme.
This terminal is to have capacity for 5 million
passengers per year and 40,000-square-meter
of floor space.
The old Terminal 1 (or Sheremetyevo-1) currently
caters mainly to internal flights.
It will be refurbished as a
terminal for business jets.
Terminal 2 (or Sheremetyevo-2) is undergoing what
the airport's management calls "cosmetic repairs",
but a major reconstruction was started on February
10th and is scheduled for completion by the end of
2008, when it will be known as Teminal B.
After the reconstruction, which is reported to
cost $310 million, its capacity is to be more
than doubled, from 8 million to 18 million
passengers per year, and it will be capable
of servicing the giant Airbus A380.
Two new wings are to be constructed for
more passenger and aircraft room.
One of the wings will also serve as
a connector to Terminal A.
The entire terminal will be expanded and fully
remodeled for passenger comfort.
New shops and restaurants, as well as brand
new VIP lounges are to be constructed.
A new parking area for aircraft will also
be built for more aircraft capacity.
The new car parking lot will be built in front
of the terminal to increase car capacity.
A new International Business Center is also
being constructed for offices
and other facilities.
A rapid transit system (mentioned above) was
supposed to connect the airport to Leningrad
Rail Terminal in Moscow, the departure point for
trains to Saint Petersburg, formerly Leningrad.
These plans were abandoned as the city of Moscow
announced it was going to concentrate efforts on
upgrading a third Moscow airport, Vnukovo but,
more recently, these plans have come up again
since the Sheremetyevo's train station is due
to be completed by January 2008, and it will be
linked to the Savyolovsky Rail Terminal in Moscow.
The train journey will take only 35 minutes, a vast
improvement over the numerous hours that people
sometimes spend getting to the airport by car
on the usually crowded Leningradskoe Shosse.
The airport's two runways are set for major
reconstruction, including widening and resurfacing.
The Moscow Oblast government has reserved a piece
of land by the airport for a future third runway.
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