The building Zhukovsky
international airport terminal
Photo: Sergey Savostianov / TASS
On Monday, May 30, at Zhukovsky near Moscow Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opened a new international airport. As he appeared, what is needed and whether demand?
Who built the Zhukovsky airport?
airport construction project was conceived in 2013, the investor and operator of the airport – JSC “Ramport Aero”. 25% plus one share of the company owned by the state corporation “Rostec”, the rest – the Lithuanian holding company Avia Solutions Group, which is engaged in ground handling at airports in several European countries (Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Italy)
The new civil airport was. It built on the airfield of the Flight test Institute to them. Gromov – the chief of the Soviet Air Testing Institute. In odd-numbered years in Ramenskoye hosts the International Air Show. The airfield, built in 1980, is able to receive all types of aircraft without limitation takeoff weight. His runway – the longest in Europe (more than 5 thousand square meters.). Now it attached a passenger terminal with a total area of 17 thousand sq. M. m and a capacity of 4 million passengers a year.
The volume of investments in “Zhukovsky” the first stage is $ 27 million, said CEO “Ramport Aero” Thomas Vayshvila. The total project cost is estimated at 10 billion rubles. After the commissioning of the second terminal area of 60 thousand sq. M. m airport capacity should reach 12 million passengers. For comparison: the Sheremetyevo airport on the basis of 2015 served 31.6 million people, Domodedovo – a little over 30 million, Vnukovo – almost 16 million people
Why in Moscow the new airport.?
Ramenskoye Airport was conceived in 2013 in order to relieve the Moscow airports, which at that time were heavily loaded, says CEO Boris Rybak Infomost agency. The last 15 years of the country’s passenger traffic grew by 18-20% per year to meet the demand, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo started discussing the construction of the third lane, he recalls. But now the situation has changed. Closure of the international destinations and falling incomes of the population has led to the reduction of passenger traffic, and the “urgent need for the opening of the new airport was gone,” says Fisher.
In January-April, the volume of passenger traffic through Moscow airports decreased by 2.4% according to statistics, Federal Air Transport Agency (on the basis of 2015 was an increase of 0.6%). According to Fisher, the volume of passenger traffic will decline at least another 5-7 years. Zhukovsky will be difficult to compete with the existing airports in a falling market, says Fisher.
Which companies will fly from Zhukovsky?
In 2016, Zhukovsky plans to serve 1.9 million passengers, said Vayshvila. One of the first flights, which will start operating regular flights from the Zhukovsky, will be the Kyrgyz Air Kyrgyzstan, the first flight is scheduled for June 20, told reporters at the opening of the representative of the carrier.
At the opening ceremony Vayshvila signed agreements with three airlines : Kazakh SCAT and two Russian cargo airline “Sky airlines Gates” and “Aviastar-TU”. What other airline will be based in Zhukovsky, not yet reported. “Ramport aero” offers cooperation 20 airlines from Russia and CIS countries, the possibility of flying in Ramenskoye said representatives of the two – charter carrier Azur Air and “YUVT Aero”, wrote “Vedomosti” in April
The peripheral airports in. all over the world, usually used as a base for low-cost airlines, which are due to the low of airport Collecting establish competitive prices on airline tickets. So, the basic airports of major European low-cost airlines Easyjet and Ryanair in London – not the main Heathrow and Gatwick, Luton and secondary airports (52 km from London) and Stansted (62 km) respectively. Media reported that Zhukovsky owners negotiated the transition to the airport only Russian loukostera, “Victory” (part of “Aeroflot” group). But in March, the general director of airline “Victory” Andrey Kalmykov said that loukosterov no plans to fly from Zhukovsky. According to him, for the relocation of Vnukovo Airlines should be offered much lower rates for service and good transport accessibility. “With the availability of transport from airport Ramenskoye is difficult,” – said Kalmykov
The peripheral airports, there are the traditional carriers, said Janis Dzenis of AviaSales -. It all depends on tariffs. For example, he adds, the Riga airport to increase the volume of transportation of passengers, airlines give discounts up to 70%. The issue price – one of the key criteria for the success of Zhukovsky, agree Rybak: “If prices Ramenskoye will be comparable with other airports in Moscow, it will attract only those airlines that have, for whatever reasons, can not get to the other airport.” According to the expert, in Zhukovsky has a chance to offer carriers a competitive price, because after the abolition of FAS regulation of tariffs in the Moscow aviation hub in the capital’s airport began to raise charges.
Can you easy access to the new airport ?
The bad transport accessibility – one of the main drawbacks of the new Zhukovsky. The airport has no direct rail link, the car to difficult to reach because of traffic jams.
It is expected that in September 2016 Russian Railways reconstructed near the airport station Recreation, to which will express the Kazan station, said deputy general director of ” Ramport Aero “Sergey Ryzhov. Also to the airport from the Kotelnikov every 30 minutes will be walking buses, the station will be registered and their baggage added Vayshvila.
The governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov said Monday that in 2017 will be reconstructed and expanded highway in the airport of the city of Zhukovsky. In the reconstruction, he said, 2 billion rubles will be invested.