Domodedovo International Airport - History

History

The airport is named after the town of Domodedovo, on the territory of which it is located.

Services from Domodedovo began in March 1964 with a flight to Sverdlovsk using a Tupolev 104. The airport, intended to handle the growth of long-distance domestic traffic in the Soviet Union, was officially opened in May 1965. A second runway, parallel to the existing one, was put into service 18 months after the opening of the airport. On 26 December 1975, Domodedovo Airport was selected for the inaugural flight of Tupolev Tu-144 to Alma Ata.

In 1993–1994, East Line Group, founded by Dmitry Kamenshik, who build capital in the early 1990s on hauling cargo from Asian countries to Russia, invested in several facilities at Domodedovo, including a new customs terminal and catering services. In late 1996, Kamenshik-led East Line Group privatized the terminal facilities of Domodedovo Airport and formed JSC 'International Airport Domodedovo' and several other commercial entities controlling the airfield operations at the airport. Since 1998, the runways, air traffic control and communication facilities are formally on a lease to the subsidiary of East Line Group. Later, in 2005 and 2008, the legality of these deals with East Line Group was contested by the Russian Rosimushchestvo government agency supervising the state property.

East Line's strategic goal to stabilize the airport's future and to establish Domodedovo as an important international and multi-modal transportation hub was gradually achieved throughout the 2000s (decade). In the 2000s (decade), East Line Group began to heavily invest in reconstruction and modernization of the outdated airport facilities. By 2009, the terminal floor space was expanded to 135,000 sq. meters from 70,000 sq. meters in 2004. The renovated terminal and airport facilities allowed the owners of the airport to attract British Airways, El Al, Swiss International Air Lines, Japan Airlines, and Austrian Airlines, who moved their flights from another major international Moscow airport, Sheremetyevo Airport, to Domodedovo. They were followed by Emirates, Brussels Airlines, Thai Airways International, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Lufthansa. Aeroflot also moved certain cargo operations to Domodedovo. The airport became the hub for some of Russia's major airlines like S7 Airlines and Transaero, which is now the main tenant in the airport. Domodedovo topped Sheremetyevo Airport in terms of passenger traffic becoming the busiest airport in Russia. By 2010, the traffic at Domodedovo spiked to over 22 million passengers per year from 2.8 million in 2000.

Domodedovo is Russia's first airport to have parallel runways operating simultaneously. Since the air traffic control tower was redeveloped in 2003, Domodedovo can control over 70 take-offs and landings an hour. By late 1st decade of the 21st century, the airport had five business lounges, set up by individual airlines.

Domodedovo Airport has been the focus of two terrorist-related incidents. In 2004, Muslim suicide bombers managed to pass airport security and get aboard of two passenger planes and then carry out the bombings after departure from Domodedovo. Despite the heightened security measures taken after this incident, another suicide bomber attack occurred on January 24, 2011, when an Islamist militant entered the terminal building and detonated a bomb in the arrival hall. As a result, mandatory screening and pat-down practices have been introduced at the airport terminal entrances.

The identity of East Line's owners controlling the operations at Domodedovo Airport was vague with traces leading to offshore companies. However, in May 2011, Dmitry Kamenshik was disclosed to be the main beneficiary of East Line's assets. At that time, Domodedovo Airport contemplated IPO, however these plans were scrapped.