Sign of problems to come for Shermetyevo? (600 words)

Published: 3/27/2001

In the first major move to Domodedovo after the opening of the new terminal, Transaero have announced that all its operations are to move from Moscow's Shermetyevo Airport. Alexander Pleshakov, the Chairman of Transaero, said the move will happen on the 24th of April 2001 and will end ten years of operations by Transaero at Sheremetyevo. According to Pleshakov, the company were reluctant to move given that it has operated from the airport since its founding, but Shermetyevo had simply not met the standards of quality of facilities and service the airline required. Transaero had been pushing the airport to upgrade its facilities since 1996, but felt that the plans had been put on the back burner pending the construction of the third terminal for Aeroflot. A fact that no doubt particularly grated with the airline as Aeroflot's main Russian long haul competitor, given that after the completion of the Aeroflot terminal in 2003, it would be seriously disadvantaged in terms of facilities. The reconstruction of Domodedovo Airport to modern European standards by its owner East Line, therefore attracted the long haul carrier. Transaero believes that it can attract passengers flying into the airport on domestic flights carried by Krasnoyarsk Airlines, Chelyabinsk Airlines, Dalavia and Domodedovo Airlines for onward passage on its international flights in addition to expanding its existing business. Dmitry Kamenshchik, the Chairman of East Line Group, stated that under the agreement between the airline and airport, Transaero's passengers would have a maximum waiting period for check in of 5 minutes in business class and 15 minutes in economy, with a maximum waiting time for luggage of 30 minutes. For Shermetyevo, the loss of Transaero could be the start of something of a trend given the aggressive marketing of Domodedovo's facilities to both domestic and international airlines over the last year. Reports have suggested that domestic carriers find the airport particularly attractive and it is this, plus the new terminal that is reported to have attracted serious interest from international airlines including Lufthansa and Swissair. The benefits of the airport for potential incoming carriers are: · Domodedovo has the international and domestic hall in the same building, allowing easy transfer, without the long terminal transfer at Shermteyevo and the need for passengers to recover their luggage prior to transfer and re check in. · Domodedovo has a better developed transport infrastructure after East Line and Moscow Railways developed an easier transfer from Paveletsky Railway Station (centre of Moscow) to Domodedovo Airport. There are currently 8 express trains a day, increasing from May, in addition to other trains stopping between the station and airport. East Line also plans to introduce check in facilities at the station along with other improvements, including putting the area between the airport and the airport railway station under cover. · Its parallel runways give considerably greater flexibility than those of the other Moscow airport competitor Vnukovo, which is also seen as having limited expansion potential due to its proximity to settlement. Given the generally poor conditions for carriers at Shermetyevo, Domodedovo poses a considerable competitive threat for the airport, which is seen as both expensive and unresponsive to the needs of both passengers and airlines. The funnelling of available resources into the new Aeroflot/Sky Team terminal while securing Aeroflot's custom, which also threatened to move some of its operations from Shermetyevo to Domodedovo. Leaves the other carriers still waiting for a competitive product at a point when Domodedovo achieves critical mass in international flights and offers a modern product. .

Article ID: 2446