DOMODEDOVO AIRPORT IS THE AIRPORT OF THE FUTURE

On September 27, at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, there was a presentation held devoted to the development program titled “Prospects for Development of Domodedovo. Domodedovo Aerotropolis”. Construction and development projects, which may be harbingers of creation of the Domodedovo Aerotropolis, were presented to Russian and foreign journalists.

The chairman of the Board of Directors Dmitry Kamenshchik reported that the amount of owned investments in development of the airport from 2011 until 2020 would be 108 bln rubles.

Most of the airport's own funds will be used for implementation of construction projects. Pavel Cherepkov, the Managing Director of DOMODEDOVO CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, spoke about the most ambitious ones. These are reconstruction and building of a passenger terminal, a total floor area of which will be increased by more than 9 times (by 2017); construction of multi-storey car parks will allow to increase the number of parking spaces by 2014 up to 9700 places; expansion of the cargo terminal will increase its capacity by more than two times – from 160 up to 360 thousand tons a year; construction of the airport’s own mini-Central Heating and Power Plant will afford an opportunity to provide the airport with heat and electricity without interruptions: the first part of this facility will be commissioned in 2013, the second one – in 2016.

Construction of a new city-planning establishment, such as Domodedovo Aerotropolis, is supposed to attract a great amount of investments on the part of other related participants – business, regional and federal government authorities. “The project is attractive for everyone, that is why we expect to get support”, - said Dmitry Kamenshchik to journalists.

Examples of successful cooperation with business, when well-known companies invest in construction of facilities in the territory of the airport, were demonstrated by Mark Veksler, the Managing Director of DOMODEDOVO DEVELOPMENT. He spoke about four projects out of 50, which are currently under study: the hotel complex that is being built in close proximity to the passenger terminal (volume of investments - $95 million); the cargo village ($300 million), the hangar for maintenance of aircraft of Boeing 747 type ($23 million); LSG SKY CHEFS in-flight catering factory ($4.5 million).

Regional and federal government authorities are also involved in development of the unique potential of Domodedovo Airport: they finance building and reconstruction of the runways, the apron, building and reconstruction of highways and rail ways, which connect the airport with Moscow. The Domodedovo urban district benefits much from coordinated development of the airport and the territory, in which it is located. “Proximity of the airport encourages arrival of the world largest companies in the territory of the city, which ensures steady growth in tax revenues”, - reported Dmitry Gorodetsky, the head of the district, to participants of the press tour. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest of them. The amount of all taxes paid by the airport in 2010 is more than 7 bln rubles (including 2 bln rubles of income tax and 2.6 bln rubles of VAT).

The airport directly influences development of the region creating jobs both in the airport itself and in related areas. If we imagine an animated picture of employment, we will see that every new million of passengers serviced by the airport provides 700-1,000 new employees with jobs. According to estimates of the Airports Council International (ACI), if we take account of indirect employment, the number of new jobs reaches 4,000. The employment pattern at Domodedovo airport is not an exception to the worldwide practice. The total number of jobs at Domodedovo airport in 2010 was about 15.3 thousand employees. More than 29 thousand people, including employees of airlines, service, trade, etc., worked in the territory of the airport.

The founder of the idea of aerotropolises development, John Kasarda, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who participates in development of the “Domodedovo Aerotropolis” project, is confident that formation of aerotropolises is an inevitable process of development of airports, which at the moment are becoming magnets attracting business: “Dozens of aerotropolises are intentionally or spontaneously arising and developing throughout the world”. Mr. Kasarda believes that the fact that today the management of Moscow Domodedovo airport begins to plan creation of an aerotropolis on the basis of the airport and the surrounding area will ensure its sustainable development in the future and make the project the most efficient, attractive and environmentally friendly.

As part of the press tour, in addition to the multimedia presentation, journalists could see the construction sites during a helicopter tour and an exciting tour of the terminal under construction. Live broadcast of the press tour was provided by Ria Novosti, transportation of journalists by a high-speed train – by Aeroexpress LLC.