Domodedovo International Airport Аэропорт Домоде́дово
IATA: DME – ICAO: UUDD
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		East Line Group
Serves		Moscow
Location		Domodedovsky District
Hub for		S7 Airlines Transaero Airlines VIM Airlines Globus Airlines
Elevation AMSL		588 ft / 179 m
Coordinates		55°24′31″N 37°54′22″E / 55.40861°N 37.90611°E / 55.40861; 37.90611Coordinates: 55°24′31″N 37°54′22″E / 55.40861°N 37.90611°E / 55.40861; 37.90611
Website		www.domodedovo.ru
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
14C/32C (Former)	2,600	8,531	Concrete
14L/32R	3,800	12,467	Reinforced Concrete
14R/32L	3,500	11,483	Reinforced Concrete
Statistics (2009)
Number of passengers			18,676,000
Aircraft movements			182,705
Sources: DAFIF, Domodedovo press release + Moscow Domodedovo Location of airport in Russia

Domodedovo International Airport (Russian: Международный Аэропорт Москва-Домодедово Mezhdunarodniy Aeroport Moskva-Domodedоvo) (IATA: DME, ICAO: UUDD) is an international airport located in Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia, 42 kilometres (26 mi) south-southeast of the centre of Moscow. Domodedovo is the largest airport in Russia in terms of passenger and cargo traffic (20.43 million passengers used the airport in 2008, which is a 9% increase over 2007), and is one of the three major Moscow airports along with Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.

In 2003 the airport began an expansion programme designed to obtain approval for New Large Aircraft operations. The runway, taxiways and parking areas were enlarged and strengthened. In March 2009 it was announced that the approval had been granted, making Domodedovo Airport the first in Russia approved for NLA operations such as the Airbus A380. The approval signifies that its operations areas comply with size and strength requirements of ICAO Category F standards.

History

Services from Domodedovo began in March 1964 with a flight to Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) using a Tupolev 104. The airport, intended to handle the growth of long-distance domestic traffic in the Soviet Union, was officially opened in May 1965. A second runway, parallel to the existing one, was put into service 18 months after the opening of the airport. On 26 December 1975, Domodedovo Airport was selected for the inaugural flight of Tupolev Tu-144 to Alma Ata.

Since 1996, Domodedovo Airport has been operated by East Line Group on a 75-year lease, although the runways continue to be controlled by the state. The group has been heavily investing in reconstruction of the airport, arranging for customs to be more convenient and the airport to be kept clean. Because of various issues at Sheremetyevo, British Airways, El Al, Swiss International Air Lines, Japan Airlines, and Russian Airlines moved their flights from there to Domodedovo. They were followed by Emirates, Brussels Airlines, Thai Airways International, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa. Meanwhile, Aeroflot had moved some cargo operations to Domodedovo. DME is Russia's first airport to have parallel runways operating simultaneously. Since the air traffic control tower was redeveloped in 2003, DME can control over 70 take-offs and landings an hour. The airport now has five business departure lounges, set up by individual airlines. BA opened its Navigator Club Lounge in 2003. It is fully equipped with Wi-Fi Internet access, food and drink concessions, showers, a cloakroom and massage chairs. The airport is also the hub of some of Russia's biggest airlines like Transaero which is the biggest airline tenant in the airport as well as S7 Airlines.

East Line's strategic goal is to stabilize the airport's future, and establish it as a major international and multi-modal transportation hub. In the first nine months of 2004, international passenger flow at DME increased by 52.8% compared to the same period in 2003. Domestic passengers and cargo volumes also increased significantly, making DME one of the world's key airports. DME benefits hugely from its close proximity to the Russian capital, enhanced by its transportation networks. The airport has 136 square kilometres of land reserved around its immediate vicinity, allowing the potential to develop a further seven runways.

Future expansion

East Line is currently doubling the terminal space to 225,000 square metres and announced plans to invest a further US$300 million into construction and upgrades in the next two years. The 97,600 m passenger Terminal (T1) at DME is set to increase in size by 27,000 m in the first stage of expansion which will be designated as T2 (this will be a dedicated international terminal). This first expansion will allow an enlarged space for the check-in area and departure gates.

The first phase of T2 was completed by the end of 2006 and allows an additional capacity of 7 million passengers per year. This will then be followed by phase two expansion of T2 which will increase the overall size of the passenger terminal to 225,000m. This is scheduled for completion by 2012.

By 2012 the new domestic T3 terminal will be completed, increasing DME's capacity to 24-28 million passengers per year, approximately doubling its current capacity. Once T4 is built, the airport's capacity is estimated to be around 30 to 35 million passengers a year. All terminals will remain connected. They will be built as extensions to the existing terminal, and will increase the efficiency of the airport operations and passenger connections by using ICAO and IATA transfer technologies.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Control tower at Domodedovo airport

Domodedovo passenger terminal

Domodedovo International terminal

Swiss International Air Lines's Airbus A320

A British Airways Boeing 767

S7 Airlines's Boeing 737-800

Domodedovo Airport has one terminal building. It has two piers, dividing the domestic flights and international flights. It has 22 jetways altogether.

Other facilities

The head office of Transaero is located on the airport property.

Transport links

Domodedovo Airport train station

Domodedovo is linked to Paveletsky Rail Terminal in downtown Moscow by the non-stop Aeroexpress trains.

There is a regular coach service between the airport and the Domodedovskaya station of the Moscow Metro located in the southern part of the city.

Incidents and accidents

• In August 2004, two suicide bombers (who turned out to be two female Chechen militants) were responsible for a serious security breach at the airport which caused two planes (Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047) to be destroyed and 90 passengers to die; the two events were the Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004. Since that time East Line has instigated a new security policy and has spent $20 million on security and detection equipment, which has been installed at the airport.

• On 22 March 2010, a Russian TU-204 Aviastar-TU jet, which originated from Hurghada in Egypt, crashed in a forest while trying to land at Domodedovo. There were no fatalities but four of the crew were seriously injured.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
We don't guarantee the information is fresh and accurate. The data may be wrong or outdated.
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