Before the tour to the construction sites, the CEO of JSC MASh Mikhail Vasilenko, briefed the journalists about the program of the large-scale development of the airport.

Today Sheremetyevo airport is the largest passenger and cargo hub in Russia, serving more than 33 million passengers and processing more than 280 thousand tonnes of cargo and mail per year. The three largest global airline alliances operate at the airport, serving more than 200 destinations around the world: SkyTeam (Aeroflot, Air France, KLM, Delta, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air, and others.), StarAlliance (SAS, Air China, LOT, Adria Airways and others.), Oneworld (Finnair). Although Sheremetyevo has the largest area of the airport terminal complex in the country, today a significant investment in its further development as a major Eastern European aviation transport hub is made.

Mikhail Vasilenko: «The beginning of the development program will allow Sheremetyevo to become one of the largest passenger and cargo hubs in the world. It will increase the attractiveness of Moscow as an international financial centre and raise the level of competitiveness of our country.»

Sheremetyevo has set ambitious goals and tasks associated with providing long-term cooperation with the base airline -  Aeroflot, a strategic partner - Volga-Dnepr and others. For this has been implemented a long-term program of development and modernisation with up-to 2026. To this period airport’s passenger traffic capacity will reach 80 million per year.

The most important stage of the program is to prepare the airport to the World Cup in 2018. By this time it is planned to introduce Terminal B, terminal-to-terminal transition, new cargo and a fuel supply systems, independent third runway,  Starosheremetevskoe highway expansion and the reconstruction of Terminal C.

The main airport terminal for domestic passenger traffic will be the new Terminal B, included in the North Terminal Complex (NTC) of the Sheremetyevo airport. After the commissioning of the first stage it will provide estimated capacity with the amount of 20 million passengers per year (4100 passengers / hour) The total area of the building of the new terminal will be 114,000 m2. The automated baggage handling system as a result of integration with other systems will allow terminals to process 4800 units baggage per hour.

Architectural decision of the terminal will be performed in the aesthetics of Russian constructionism. On the territory of the Terminal B will be located three business rooms with a total area of 4 000 sq. m with 250-300 seats and a VIP-room with a planned area of 1600 sq. m. The terminal is planned to provide iBeacon system for online navigation of the passengers around the Sheremetyevo airport through an app. In the new terminal and terminal-to-terminal transition will work united free high-speed Wi-Fi network.

Complex maintenance of barrier-free environment will be implemented with the help of tactile navigation, duplication of public information in Braille font, ramps, lifting platforms, understated counters, situational assistance call buttons and a new high comfort room Mercury. Also the new terminal will be connected to the pedestrian gallery with multi-level parking for 2500 thousand places. Planned date of completion of the construction is December 2017. The volume of investments - $ 305 million.

A unique and innovative in many ways for Russia, this is the project of building terminal-to-terminal transitions - two underground tunnels (passenger and luggage, the length of 1936 meters each and a diameter of 6 meters), which will be placed directly under the runway and will connect all passenger terminals of the airport. For the first time in the world passenger and baggage transfer will be organised under the existing runways. Access to the terminal-to-terminal transition will be implemented through a comfortable station complexes. North station complex will be located at the Ground floor of the future Terminal B. And the south station complex is being built as a detached building, located on the area between Terminals E and D.

Tunnel for passengers will provide a guaranteed minimum connection time (50 minutes), and increase the transfer efficiency of passengers between the terminals, which is especially important for the management of an effective hub operations. Travel time between the north and south terminal complexes will be only 5 minutes.

The automated system of passenger transportation will provide transportation for more than 11.5 million passengers per year, throughput capacity will be 3352 passengers / hour, including 1676 passengers / hour in each direction. Throughput of baggage system - 5.9 million units bag. / year (1816 units bag / hour, including 908 units baggage / hour in each direction). Delivery and installation of the passenger transportation systems is provided by the company Doppelmayr, and baggage system - the company Beumer.

Driving terminal-to-terminal transition tunnels is implemented around the clock with the help of super-modern and fully automated complex manufactured by German company Herrenknecht AG. This technic is used for slump-less tunnelling and extracting rocks with the help of a conveyor belt to the surface and installation blocks of high-precision tunnel finishing.

The rate of driving of automated tunnelling complex - 18-20 meters per day. By now passenger tunnel is laid on 600 meters and crossed the mainline taxi lane and baggage tunnel reached a point of 300 meters. Planned date completion of the construction - 2017. The volume of investments - $ 245 million

Next object is a new cargo complex. After the commissioning of the first stage of Russia's largest cargo terminal the capacity will consist of 380 000 tons of cargo per year. In the long term, due to the possibility of expansion the capacity can be adapted to the growing needs of the market and increase up to 1 million tonnes of cargo per year.

In the new cargo complex there will be mounted the automated system of storage and processing of cargos, which is unique in Russia. The terminal will have an automated warehouse complex with a minimum of manual operations. This will ensure the highest level of safety of cargos during their processing, handling and storage. Moving and sorting of cargo in multi-level storage areas will be implemented by automatic lifting devices. In a terminal two separate zones will be organised - for container and bulk cargo storage with unified automated control system. The storage system is designed for 3898 pallets and 612 places for storage of pallets, 160 of which will be equipped with a temperature control system The complex will be equipped with 28 collection point and delivery of the cargo and 17 conveyor lines with access to the airport.

Total  area of the new cargo terminal will be 47,000 sq. m. Target date for completion of the construction and putting into operation - the 2nd quarter of 2017. The volume of investments - $85 million.

Also in the airport at full speed goes the construction of a new fuel-filling complex, valued at $ 150 million. And it is important to note that all these projects are implemented due to the private investments. Moreover, after the final budgeting, investors were able to save about $80 million from the originally planned volume of investments. But it is decided not to save this money but to spend it for the reconstruction of another Sheremetyevo airport Terminal C. Overall, the total volume of private investments in the construction of these facilities will exceed $865 million.

Moreover continues the construction of the third runway - Runway 3 (length 3200 m, width 60 m). It will increase the airport's capacity for take-off and landing operations twice, and will provide take-off and landing of almost all types of aircrafts. The construction is financed from the federal budget in the framework of the Federal Target program The Development of Transport System of Russia. The expansion of the Starosheremetevskoe highway is underway, it is also the route SH1-SH2 (customer is MASh Direction of Road Construction of the Moscow region). Also there is a construction of the northern exit from highway M-11, Moscow, St. Petersburg.

Thus, by 2018 the total number of take-off and landing operations using three runways will increase from 55 to 90 units per hour, the total capacity of passinger traffic of the terminal will increase from 9,008 to 13,118 passengers per hour, and the annual capacity of passenger traffic of the airport will increase to 55 million passengers.

«It is important to note that the development of the airport has more and more impact on the economy of all Moscow region, where we are a significant driver of growth in the industrial and logistics centre, the largest taxpayer, an attractive employer. Implementation of the major projects is the most important task for us. And also it is a milestone to keep the growth rate of shipments and the highest quality standards of passenger service: the airport now is a world leader in flight punctuality and a European leader in service quality. We will meet the guests of the Championship at the highest level, from Sheremetyevo they will begin their acquaintance with Russia».