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The Zhukovsky airport is open
Thursday February 16, 2017 19:00 MSK / Yulia Kuzmina
In Zhukovsky town situated near Moscow in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opening of the new airport of the Moscow air hub took place. The international airport Zhukovsky is the first airport complex in Russia where possibilities of effective non-aeronautical activities were taken into account during blueprint stages of the terminal.

The Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov, the governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov, the Deputy Minister of Transport Valery Okulov, the head of Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko, the head of Rostec Group Sergey Chemezov and the CEO of managing company of the airport Ramport Aero Thomas Vayshvilla also participated in the opening ceremony of the Zhukovsky airport (earlier the project carried the name Ramenskoye).

"This event important both for Moscow and for our country. The more services will be offered for our citizens, foreign citizens for reasonable prices, with use of various rates, the better people would feel. It is always a matter of the economic choice. The fact that such entity appeared and begins operating, creates an additional set of opportunities", - Dmitry Medvedev declared at the opening of the airport .

At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that the popularity of the new airport will largely depend on its operating conditions. "Everything depends on you, on what privileges and prices you offer our passengers. They money will vote", - Dmitry Medvedev has noted.

As part of the opening ceremony the CEO of Ramport Aero has signed agreements on cooperation with five companies: SCAT airline company (Kazakhstan), Air Kyrgyzstan, Aviastar-Tu airline, Sky Gates Airlines (newly created private cargo airline) and also with the Master International General Trading on the establishment of a cargo terminal and organization of freight traffic in the Zhukovsky airport.

After the opening ceremony the new passenger terminal of the airport and also the plan for the development of a new air harbor was presented to the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The program, consisting of three phases, began in 2014. In the first phase the passenger terminal was built (15 sq. M. M) capacity of 4 million passengers a year. On the ground floor there are 18 racks for airlines, technical organizations, restaurants, police station, a room of baggage tracing, etc. On the second floor there are a zone of international and regional flights, inspection area, restaurants and duty free shops. Also, the first phase involved the expansion of the road to the airport for up to 4 lanes and construction of parking lots. The second and third phase involve the expansion of the first passenger terminal and construction of a second. As a result, the total terminal area should be 60 thousand sq.m, and the capacity has to grow to 12 million passengers per year. Total investments amount is more than 10 billion rubles.

The Air Kyrgyzstan will become the first carrier which will begin operating from the Zhukovsky airport. The CEO of airline Zholdoshbek Bekturganov told about it. "We transfer all flights from Domodedovo here. In Zhukovsky the rates are approximately 20% lower. We plan the first test flight for June 20. On a regular basis - since July 1", - Mr. Bekturganov said. Also the Kazakhstan airline SCAT, within the signed agreement on cooperation on airport and airfield services is ready to perform flights to the Zhukovsky airport. According to the CEO of Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov, airline will perform flights to Astana, Bishkek, Osh, Shymkent, Aktobe, Aktau and other cities. Air Kyrgyzstan plans to perform 8 flights a week, SCAT - 12 flights a week.

Zhukovsky is the fourth airport in Moscow aviation hub. The operator of the airport is the company Ramport  Aero (Rostec corporation owns 24% + 1 shares and the rest at the Lithuanian Avia Solutions Group). Ramport  Aero has invested $27 million in the terminal, the runway was provided by airfield of the Gromov Flight Research Institute.

The airport has the longest runway in Europe: 4600 x 70 meters, it allows to accommodate all types of aircrafts without any restrictions, and also it provides a great resource of aircraft parking places very close to the operational ramp.

The benefits of the airport are the availability of free slots, not loaded airspace, simple routes of taxing,  a convenient arrangement of platforms, clear functional terminal. Low cost value, a convenient configuration and high level of non-aviation activities allow to provide extremely attractive working conditions to airlines without any prejudice to a financial result.

The airport is located in 23 km from MRHW (Moscow Ring Highway) on Novoryazanskoye Highway. It is planned to open routes o the airport: the express bus from the metro station Kotelniki – 40 min on the road; a train to the Ramenskoye station, then the shuttle to the airport – 1 hour on the road; a train to the platform Otdyh, then the shuttle to the airport – 1 hour 15 min on the road. It is planned to organize the registration of passengers and baggage drop-off on Kotelniki station.

There are certain plans in the Program of the Development of Transport Availability: ensuring the movement with no traffic lights - the bypass road around the settlement Oktyabrsky (time of the movement from MRHW will be up to 20 min), the express train Sputnik from the Kazansky Railway Station to the platform Otdyh (time on road to the airport – 40 min), Aeroexpress from the Kazansky Railway Station.

At this time, it is difficult to estimate efficiency of opening of the new airport owing to the fact that urgent need in expansion of handling capacity of the Moscow air hub has disappeared. Though the project was implemented in a very short period of time (slightly more than a year since the beginning of a construction), the situation in the market of air transportation has significantly changed. Nobody assumed that the country will be comprehended by economic shocks, analysts predicted a strong growth of demand for air transportation. Despite this, the prospects of the Zhukovsky airport are evaluated positively. It is expected that in the next two years the passenger traffic would stabilize and return to the growth. At the same time Moscow will still remain the main aviation transit hub of the country. And due to the fact that handling capacity of each of the Moscow’s airports is limited to the opportunities of their own airspace, the fourth separately located airport will be  in demand by air carriers.