"Russian Airport Has Surged in Recent Years"

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 

Russian Airport Has Surged in Recent Years
The Associated Press


MOSCOW -- Domodedovo Airport, starting point of the two planes that
crashed Tuesday, is one of three main passenger airports serving the
Russian capital. 

It's also the world's fastest growing airport, topping a list of 110
international airports, according to Airports Council International,
which tracks passenger traffic. 

Domodedovo is 20 miles southeast of Moscow and is more distant from the
city center than Shermetyevo and Vnukovo airports, but its popularity
with travelers has been growing quickly. 

Several foreign airlines including British Airways and Swiss
International moved operations there in recent years from Sheremetyovo,
which is widely disliked for its crowded, dismal and outdated
facilities. 

The airport reported serving 6,667,000 passengers in the first seven
months of 2004, a 43 percent increase over the same period in the
previous year. Of those, 3.4 million -- or more than half -- were on
international flights, the airport said. 

Domodedovo also is the only one of Moscow's three main airports with
train service; commuter trains connect the airport with Moscow's
Paveletsky railroad station. Passengers at other airports rely on
often-overpriced taxis or crowded buses. 

Sheremetyevo's international terminal was built by a West German firm
for the 1980 Moscow Games. Vnukovo was the airport used by top Kremlin
officials and important foreign visitors during Soviet times. 

Other facts: 

Location: 13.7 miles south of Moscow. 

Hourly passenger traffic capacity: 1,100 international and 2,100
domestic. 

Airlines: About 100 airlines from 12 countries within the former Soviet
Union and from 11 countries outside the region. 

Domestic destinations: The Caucasus, the Urals, Central Asia, Siberia,
the Far East, central Russia, former Soviet states. 

International destinations: Europe, Asia, the Americas. 

Operated by: East Line Group, Russia's first private airport operator. 

History: Completed in 1964, with a new airport complex opened in 2000.
Its two runways are capable of receiving up to 75 planes an hour. 

Recent new security measures: Biometric systems of passenger control,
including fingerprint scanners for passengers and staff, introduced in
April 2004.


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