Two years later the Russia’s most advanced passenger terminal has serviced its 20-millionth passenger. This day has been memorized by all the guests of Terminal D, which have found themselves in the festive atmosphere: the decorated terminal, appearances of the artists, loudly transmitted greetings and of course the honoring of milestone passenger.

There is hardly a better place for a global party to commemorate the birthday than the Terminal building. The “Stariy Tretiy” band has been performing all day long in the departure lounge and it has set up the real almost non-stop music show. And this is not an exaggeration: the musicians have set two Russian records in January by holding out in the music performance marathon for 27 hours! They have given a buzz to the guests of the Terminal by the most popular hits from all over the world, the songs from the best national motion pictures and red-hot melodies and songs about travelling.

All the passengers and guests of the airport have been given different gifts: air cushions, firm labels for luggage and fridge magnets with pleasing views. Terminal D of the Sheremetyevo airport is believed to be one of the wonders of modern architecture. The whole constellation of world-known architects has been working on its design and creation. The Terminal looks like hovering swan in the bird’s eye panorama. Unorthodox silhouette of Terminal D is the architectural concept inspired by the brilliant “Swan Lake” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, embodying the luxuriance and unique distinctive character of Russian cultural traditions.

The special attention has been paid to little travelers: they have studied dancing pas together with funny polar bears and received gifts.

Besides architectural perfection of Terminal D, it is the most advanced and comfortable airport in Russia. It is very friendly to little passengers and disabled persons – it is the only airport in Russia, where wheelchair person may proceed through the whole terminal right to the aircraft all by himself. There are 152 check-in counters, including 24 counters for self-check-in, 30 check-in counters for transfer passengers and oversized baggage, 6 enhanced comfort halls, mother’s room, 2 game rooms, 5 swaddling rooms and 4 rooms for children, which are travelling unescorted, 30 shops, 19 twenty-four-hour catering establishments, comfortable parking for 4500 cars, connected with the Terminal building by a walkway. It is also connected by a walkway gallery with terminals F and E of the Sheremetyevo airport and with the Aeroexpress railway station.

The street of alive statues, representing the most famous touristic countries and cities, has become another element of the festival. Unusual alive gold, silver and bronze sculptures, stopping in freakish poses for a long time and then becoming alive again as if they were envoys from different countries and epochs. The professional photographers have been taking photos of all the volunteers on the back of festive decorations. These professional photos may be downloaded from the official website of Terminal D: www.svo3.ru, and they will surely become the garnishment of family albums and reminder of this unusual day at the airport.

A symbolic board, displaying the number of passengers serviced at the Terminal as of the current minute, has been located near every statue. Nobody, including the employees, knows who would become the lucky, but everyone was looking forward to his appearance. And there he comes – the 20-millionth passenger, Mikhail Kovalev, departing from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski, got lucky.

Mikhail is the head of legal firm in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski and he performs frequent business trips to the capital. In spite of being regular passenger of Sheremetyevo airport, he could not have imagined that he will become the 20-millionth passenger: "It is a very pleasant surprise. I always fly with Aeroflot. I have tried to arrive as close as possible to the departure time earlier, when the flights have been performed from the old Sheremetyevo terminals, in order to reduce the time spent in their depressing atmosphere. And I have been really happy after the opening of Terminal D. It is the excellent terminal of European level. It is as different as day and night as compared to the previous ones. I love everything here: cafes, holding rooms, organization of collection of luggage, comfortable custom room without any queues. It is comfortable in any respect. Terminal D is the airport of international standing – modern, spacious, and it is a pleasure to be here».

The Development Director of Terminal D, Oleg Lavrov, has awarded the hero of the day with promotional gifts. Silver rain in honor of the 20-millionth passenger was the culmination of the holiday along with commemorative pictures with the employees and administration of the Terminal.

Historical note

Aeroflot, the national carrier of Russia, has stated in 1998 that it is necessary to build a new own advanced terminal at the Sheremetyevo airport. Several years later, the ceremony of laying of the terminal’s foundation stone has taken place on February 9th 2001. Terminal D intended for passenger traffic of more than 12 million passengers a year has been designed for servicing flights of Aeroflot, based in Sheremetyevo, and its partners from the SkyTeam alliance.

JSC “Terminal” has been created on November 3rd 2003 and Aeroflot has delegated rights and responsibilities connected with the construction project to this company. At present “Terminal” manages the property and business activities of Terminal D. Aeroflot in its own turn provides the full range of services in the area of ground handling operations to its partner-carriers. Today the Terminal is servicing 10 airlines: Aeroflot, Nordavia, Donavia, Rossiya, Tatarstan, SAS, Alitalia, Delta, Finnair, Koreanair.

The shareholders of “Terminal” are Aeroflot (about 52% of shares), VTB Bank (25% + 1 share) and VEB Bank (20% minus 2 shares).

The first flight from Terminal D has been performed by Aeroflot on route Moscow-Sochi on November 15th 2009.

We congratulate Terminal D with its double holiday and we wish new milestones and memorable dates to the employees of this young enterprise.

AVIA.RU thanks the public relations office of Terminal D for helping in creation of this article.