It’s become a bit of a cliché to compare everything about the Russia of today with its dreary state-run Soviet past, but in the case of Moscow Domodedovo International Airport (DME), there probably is no better way to illustrate the major changes that have allowed it to become a global gateway. That is because the airport is arguably one of the major aviation success stories of post-Soviet Russia, going from being a small state-owned domestic airport to one of Europe’s fastest-growing international gateways.
Going from handling just 3 million passengers in 2001, the gateway’s traffic mushroomed to 7.9 million in 2003 and 28 million in 2012, with a growth rate of 9.6%, putting it just one place below the top 10 busiest airports in Europe. From a modest network connecting the Soviet satellite states, Domodedovo now has extensive links with Europe and Asia.
The transformation began in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, says Daniel Burkard, director of external and international relations at Moscow Domodedovo Airport. “The markets changed dramatically,” he says. “This was a domestic airport in Soviet times, but then they became international destinations as the CIS countries. Overnight we went from domestic to international.”
Until that time, Domodedovo had been a domestic gateway, overshadowed by its neighbours, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, which had the honour of serving international clients. But under Yeltsin’s new government, barriers to competition were broken down and private enterprise and profit were encouraged, which gave the Moscow airport the chance to compete with its neighbours.
In 1997, the airport was privatised and the new operator, the East Line Group, initiated a major overhaul of the facilities, including modernising its main terminal, baggage handling and check-in areas. From that point on, the airport began attracting international airlines. In 2003, British Airways (BA) moved over to Domodedovo, followed by Japan Airlines in 2007, Lufthansa in 2008 and Cathay Pacific in 2010, to name but a few.
Today there are some 225 destinations offered worldwide, of which 102 are exclusively available from DME. On the fifth anniversary of the transfer of its flights to Domodedovo, BA’s commercial manager for Northeast Europe, Andrew Hammans, explains his reasons for their move. “The airport team delivers efficient, friendly service and they are so receptive to change and innovation – these are the major factors of our common success,” he says.
According to Burkard, the steadily increasing spending power of the average Muscovite and their widening aspirations have also helped to boost the airport’s network, especially via its home Russian carriers Transero and S7 Airlines.
“First Europe came on line and then beyond it the US, then in 2005 Emirates started a trend of operating a daily business flight. Eight years later it’s become a twice-daily A380 and B777 service and they have been joined by Etihad and Qatar. We have three Israeli carriers and our domestic base is made up of Transaero and S7 and now also Ural Airlines, which has more aircraft at Domodedovo than at its home base of Ekaterinburg,” he adds.
“After the Middle East opened up, which was eight years ago, it was followed by Asia which showed that the radius of Russians travelling had grown, first Europe then ME and now Asia, which is an eleven-hour flight from Moscow,” says Burkard.
One of the most interesting routes operating from DME is Singapore’s popular Singapore – Moscow – Houston service, which is also a highly lucrative market “connecting oil and oil” as Burkard describes it. With many of the world’s capitals now connected to Moscow via Domodedovo, the gateway is now seeing a trend of airlines increasingly introducing routes to smaller, secondary cities, especially in Europe.
In the first five months of 2013, eight new routes were launched from Domodedovo: Bremen (Germany), Palermo (Italy), Manchester (UK), Nha Trang (Vietnam), Kalamata (Greece) and also three charter flights – Montego Bay (Jamaican), Krabi (Thailand) and Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic).
“The business is going out more and more into the regions of Europe. Russian carriers are flying more and more long haul in their own right so passengers can go non-stop. About 15 years ago if someone had said a Russian Boeing 747, in this case Transaero, would be operating to Bali, people would not believe this, and now it operates every week.”
So can Domodedovo be described as a hub? Well, Burkard says the anecdotal evidence shows its hub role is increasing. “There are growing markets behind Moscow. We hear from some of the European carriers that 20% of their passengers are connecting, which doesn’t sound much when you think about BA connecting through Heathrow, but it’s still promising,” he says.
A new chapter began for Domodedovo earlier this year when UK-based easyJet launched new services from London and Manchester, marking the first time a European low-cost carrier has operated to DME. According to both easyJet and Burkard, the new route is already proving very popular and makes the Luton-based carrier the biggest LCC currently operating in Russia.
“It was a hard fight for them to get it. We see changes in the passenger structure, thanks to this easyJet service. It’s what happened in Western Europe 10 years ago when low-cost carriers came onto routes and people would fly to destinations that formerly they would never have considered,” he says. Indeed, when interviewed by Moscow Domodedovo staff, many of the passengers on that inaugural flight stated that cheap fares had been a key motivator for them.
Russian aviation still faces a heavily regulated market and a strict visa regime, but Burkard believes the government is keen to liberalise the market. “We see the air service agreements are getting softer because the Russian side is ready to allow more competition onto the routes,” he says. His hopes now are for liberalisation of Russia’s bilaterals with Eastern Europe. “We see finally the air services agreement are being changed and we expect additional carriers to start flying to several destinations in Poland. Also Helsinki, Finland, is opening up.”
Domodedovo has one terminal complex within which international and domestic operations are divided. This facility is in the process of being modernised and expanded to cope with 2,000 to 2,500 passengers per hour. “We are putting the final touches now to our Terminal 1 expansion work. At the end of the summer we will open the new international/domestic facility, which will include a new international arrival zone, which will be very impressive. We will put in more baggage belts. There will be more customs check points on arrival. We have opened up 20 new check-in desks for the summer season, now at 160 check-in desks,” he says.
“We have tripled the number of check-in self-service kiosks. We have put in more self-service kiosks. Because the airlines don’t provide them, we see it as part of our service obligation. Finally, we have started construction of Terminal 2, which to the general passenger will look like an extension of our terminal, which will give us space for an additional 8 million passengers a year – that’s international capacity,” adds Burkard.
Other projects due to begin this year include phases 3 and 4 of the construction of a new cargo terminal. Meanwhile, a new third runway is also to be constructed, the first in Russian aviation history to be built by a private company. “We will do it ourselves, the first time in Russia a private entity will build a runway in the state,” explains Burkard. “We already can operate any aircraft that exists, with simultaneous approach on two parallel runways. One was reconstructed a few years back and the other one will be reconstructed when the new one is completed as we don’t want to limit capacity.” There is certainly plenty to show for 16 years of private operation.
This article was modified from a story that appears in the latest issue of Routes News, the world air service development magazine, and which can be viewed online here.
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