Domodedovo Airport: On the Way towards Creating a Hub
Moscow Domodedovo Airport has joined the pilot project on the maintenance of transfer passengers and their luggage who arrive at the airport by international flights followed on Russian domestic routes. Participation in this project, which is implemented under the Interdepartmental Commission of the Federal Customs Service and the Ministry of Transport of Russia, is to optimize the time of connecting flights and to link the maximum number of destinations, in which Domodedovo is the leader among the airports of Moscow Aviation Hub*, into a convenient network.
The technology, that will be tested until June 1, 2013, is freeing travelers going through a second procedure of customs control and baggage screening during changing from one flight to another at Domodedovo Airport. It will provide domestic transit passengers the level of comfort that complies to international standards, and due to that they can save up to 20 minutes of their time.
The first ones who can appreciate the benefit from the convenience of the new technology are passengers of Transaero and S7 Airlines, arriving to Domodedovo from Munich (S7 898), Frankfurt (S7 900 and UN 308), Kiev (S7 160), Simferopol (S7 166), Vienna (UN 324), Berlin (UN 310) and Riga (UN 252)**. These flights are included in the pilot project.
Check in for connecting flights up to the new technology is available only to travelers who buy a single transfer, instead of buying tickets to different parts of the route separately. So, they get the added benefit to the existing advantages of a through check in - the lower ticket price and the obligation of the airlines to deliver the passenger to the final destination in any case, even if somebody missed the flight, or if the flight was cancelled.
Minimization of transfer baggage handling time is a part of the comprehensive program aimed to implement the strategic objectives of Domodedovo airport to create a hub. The aviation hub has been consistently working on expanding the network of connecting routes, as well as by implementing a special program "Domodedovo Transfer Service" since 2005. The airport has been facilitating partnerships between carriers flying from Domodedovo, and helping to "straighten" the intersecting traffic by creating new, convenient to passengers, connecting routes. For this purpose, Domodedovo has also been holding annual interline conference "DME Connections," which, this year, is to take place on October 31 in Lotte Hotel Moscow.
Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest airport in passenger traffic in Russia. In 2011, the airport served 25,701,610 people, which enabled it to become one of the largest airports in Europe according to the ACI classification. Moscow Domodedovo Airport has been chosen for flights to Moscow by members of the world's leading aviation alliances - Star Alliance, oneworld. Since 2009, Moscow Domodedovo Airport tops the list of the best airports in the Eastern Europe by quality of service, according to an annual survey by the independent research company Skytrax Research (UK).
* - As of September 5, 2012, 83 airlines fly from Domodedovo Airport to 243 domestic and international destinations, 85 of which are unique to the Moscow Aviation Hub.
** - The technology doesn’t apply to the service of transfer passengers, who arrived to Moscow Domodedovo Airport by an international flight of S7 Airlines or Transaero with oversized baggage, or whose baggage is subject to declaration.