Vnukovo boosts capacity

Vnukovo, the smallest of Moscow’s three major airports, considerably expanded its passenger capacity with the opening of a new terminal in December 2012. Construction of Terminal A had begun in 2006 as part of a large-scale program to modernize Vnukovo. At a cost of 44 billion rubles (around $1.4 billion), the program was financed by the Moscow city administration, which is the airport’s largest shareholder, as well as by private investors.

Terminal A became partially operational in July 2010; on December 18, 2012, its capacity was expanded by an additional 96,000 square meters to reach the planned 270,000 square meters. The number of check-in counters grew from 104 to 154. The new five-level terminal now has a total of 52 boarding gates, 31 of them equipped with boarding bridges. There are two double-bridge gates to service Boeing 747 widebodies and one triple-bridge gate for Airbus A380s. 

The completion of the new terminal indicates Vnukovo’s aspiration to compete with the other two major Moscow airports, Domodedovo and Shere­metyevo, which currently surpass it in the number of passengers served. Domodedovo, Russia’s largest airport, handled 28.2 million passengers in 2012 while Sheremetyevo served 26.2 million. Vnukovo handled slightly over 10 million passengers last year, coming fourth in the country’s airport ranking behind its two Moscow rivals and St Petersburg’s Pulkovo (11.2 million).