Sheremetyevo International Airport

• 1. Introduction

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  Sheremetyevo International Airport sits 29 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, wedged between the towns of Lobnya and Khimki. Today it is the busiest airport in Russia and in the post-Soviet states, and the ninth-busiest airport in Europe. But in 1953, when the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union decreed its construction near the settlement of Chashnikovo, no passenger had ever set foot on its tarmac. It was built as a military airfield. How did a Soviet air force base become one of the continent's great civilian hubs? How did competition and scandal, cold-war prestige projects and the 2018 FIFA World Cup all shape what travels through its gates today? And how did an airport originally named after a village end up bearing the name of Russia's most celebrated poet?

• 2. From Airbase to Civilian Gateway

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  On the 7th of November 1957, the airfield at Sheremetyevsky opened, marking the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution. Its name came from the nearby village and railway station of the same name. Less than two years later, the Council of Ministers issued a decree to strip the site of its military function and hand it over to the Principal Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. The first civilian aircraft to land was a Tupolev Tu-104B arriving from Leningrad on the 11th of August 1959.

  The first international flight departed on the 1st of June 1960, bound for Berlin Schonefeld Airport aboard an Ilyushin Il-18. The formal opening ceremony followed the next day, with a two-story terminal occupying 1,820 square metres formally commissioned. On the 3rd of September 1964, the Sheremetyevo-1 terminal opened, and by the close of that year 18 foreign airlines were operating regular services to the airport, with as many as 10 different aircraft types in use. The airport handled 822,000 passengers and 23,000 tons of mail and cargo that year, of which 245,000 passengers and 12,000 tons were transported internationally. By the end of 1965, a majority of all international flights into the Soviet Union passed through Sheremetyevo, a consequence of Aeroflot's air traffic agreements with 47 countries.

• 3. Built for the Olympics

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  In preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics, the Ministry of Civil Aviation approved the construction of a second terminal in early 1976. Construction of what became Sheremetyevo-2 began on the 17th of November 1977 and the terminal was put into operation on the 1st of January 1980, built to serve an annual 6 million passengers, or 2,100 per hour. Its official opening ceremony was held later, on the 6th of May 1980, with the building having been designed as a larger version of Hannover-Langenhagen Airport by the same architects and built by Rüterbau, a company based in Hanover. Every piece of equipment and all materials, except bricks shipped from Poland, were transported from Germany to Moscow by lorry.

  During the Olympics, Sheremetyevo served more than 460,000 international passengers. The terminal would go on to serve the airport for nearly four decades, eventually renamed Terminal F under a Latin-letter naming system introduced in December 2009. Terminal F closed for reconstruction on the 30th of December 2021, awaiting the completion of the new Terminal C before its turn at rebuilding.

• 4. Rivalry and Recovery

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  In the early 2000s, Sheremetyevo faced a serious competitive threat from Moscow Domodedovo Airport, which was widely seen as more modern and more convenient to reach. Twenty-four airlines departed Sheremetyevo for Domodedovo during that period, including notable domestic carriers such as Sibir, KrasAir, Transaero, Pulkovo Airlines, and UTAir, as well as international carriers Air Malta, Adria Airlines, Swiss, British Airways, and Emirates. Losing Emirates and British Airways to a rival was a significant blow.

  Aeroflot responded by pushing for a new terminal, eventually realised as Terminal D, whose construction was partly a condition of Aeroflot's entry into the SkyTeam airline alliance. The main contractor for Terminal D was a Turkish firm, Enka. Terminal D's design was based on the image of a giant swan with outstretched wings; it covers 172,000 square metres and has the capacity for 12 million passengers per year. The first flight from Terminal D departed on the 15th of November 2009, at 9:15 in the morning, heading for the southern resort city of Sochi.

  By the end of 2015, the turnaround was complete. Sheremetyevo surpassed Domodedovo as Russia's busiest airport, serving 31.28 million passengers against Domodedovo's 30.05 million. In 2016, Sheremetyevo continued to grow while both Vnukovo and Domodedovo lost passengers. Air Malta, which had left Sheremetyevo for Domodedovo in the 2000s, was among the carriers that returned.

• 5. The Jet Fuel Fraud

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  Behind the ribbon-cuttings and passenger records, a corruption scheme was quietly draining the airport's finances. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported that between 2003 and 2008, Sheremetyevo purchased jet fuel through a wide network of middlemen, inflating costs substantially. Court records showed that in 2006 and 2007 alone, phantom corporations extracted at least $200 million in pointless markups. The scheme cost the Russian government approximately 1 billion rubles, equivalent to around $40 million, in missing tax income. The inflated fuel costs were passed on, raising airline ticket prices for ordinary passengers.

  The fraud's exposure is a reminder that the airport's growth during this same period was achieved despite, not because of, the management structures in place. In February 2016, TPS Avia combined its assets with Sheremetyevo Airport and committed to invest US$840 million in upgrades and expansion, securing a 68% stake in the airport as part of the deal.

• 6. Naming a Poet's Airport

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  In December 2018, following a nationwide contest called the Great Names of Russia, Sheremetyevo was named after the poet Alexander Pushkin. The formal ceremony took place on the 5th of June 2019, which was the 220th anniversary of Pushkin's birth year. The airport, previously named after the village it was built near, is now officially called Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport, with an internal code of ShRM.

  The same year, the Russian Federal Security Service began testing an automated passport control system at the airport. The system uses biometric data and foreign passport recognition to allow Russian passengers to pass through border control with fewer physical restrictions, with the potential to extend the technology to other Russian airports if trials proved successful. Also in 2019, the airport handled approximately 49.9 million passengers and launched a digital twin model aimed at forecasting and planning all airport operations. Even at pilot level, the project reportedly generated savings of more than 1 billion rubles, equivalent to more than US$120 million, and contributed to the airport being recognised as a world leader in on-time performance.

• 7. Terminals, Tunnels, and Transit

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  The airport's current terminal structure reflects more than six decades of incremental building. The Northern Terminal Complex holds Terminal B, a domestic terminal with a capacity of 20 million passengers rebuilt and reopened on the 3rd of May 2018 with an Aeroflot flight to Saratov, and the new Terminal C, whose first section opened on the 17th of January 2020 with a capacity of 20 million passengers; a second section, Terminal C2, is scheduled to open in 2026 and will add another 10 million. Terminal A, a private aviation terminal covering 3,000 square metres and capable of handling 75,000 passengers annually, opened on the 16th of January 2012.

  The Southern Terminal Complex links Terminal D, Terminal E, and Terminal F through pedestrian walkways with travelators. An automated people mover and a separate automated baggage tunnel run beneath the airport, connecting the northern and southern groups. Terminal E drew unexpected global attention in June 2013 when Edward Snowden checked into the V-Express Transit Hotel between security checkpoints, having arrived without the right to enter Russia, while seeking asylum. Terminal E closed in March 2020 following a drop in passenger numbers accelerated by COVID-19.

  The Aeroexpress rail link, now running from Belorussky station in central Moscow, completes the journey in 35 minutes. The service began in November 2004 with a connection to Savyolovsky station and a bus link for the final stretch; a dedicated 60,000-square-metre rail terminal opened in front of Terminal F on the 10th of June 2008, and the line was extended to Belorussky station from the 28th of August 2009.

• 8. Accidents and the Safety Record

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  On the 26th of September 1960, Austrian Airlines Flight 901 crashed 11 kilometres short of the runway at Sheremetyevo. Of the 37 people on board, 31 died. On the 28th of November 1972, Japan Air Lines Flight 446, a DC-8-62, crashed during initial climb on a route to Haneda Airport; 61 of the 76 occupants were killed. Four years later to the day, on the 28th of November 1976, Aeroflot Flight 2415, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashed shortly after takeoff following an artificial horizon failure, killing all 67 passengers and 6 crew. On the 6th of July 1982, Aeroflot Flight 411, an Ilyushin Il-62, crashed on takeoff and all 90 on board died.

  On the 5th of May 2019, Aeroflot Flight 1492, a Sukhoi Superjet 100, crash-landed and caught fire after the aircraft returned to the airport with an on-board malfunction shortly after takeoff. Forty-one of the 78 passengers and crew on board were killed and 11 others were injured.

  Despite these tragedies, by 2019 Sheremetyevo had achieved an on-time performance of 93.65% for departures in February of that year in the major airports category, and the Official Aviation Guide ranked it the most punctual major airport in the world for 2018, with an on-time performance of 87%. In March 2019, Skytrax awarded Terminal B a 5-star terminal rating following a comprehensive audit.