Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport was first opened on 11 August 1959, providing the Moscow region of Russia with a public international airport. The first international flight from the grounds of Sheremetyevo was about six months later to Berlin. Of all the airports found in Russia, Sheremetyevo is rated second in the amount of passenger traffic it experiences, with Domodedovo International Airport at number one. In 2005 Sheremetyevo had approximately 12,174,000 million passengers pass in and out its doors, a number which is sure to increase in coming years.
The official operator and the joint-stock company that operates and possesses the airport is the ‘International Airport Sheremetyevo’. The authorities of Moscow own none of the shares in the airport as the federal government owns them. The airport’s elevation above mean sea level is about 190 meters or 622 feet. The Sheremetyevo airport has two concrete runways, one being 3,550 meters or 11,647 feet long and the other being slightly longer at 3,700 meters or 12,139 feet long.
There are plans to expand the Sheremetyevo International Airport in the nearby future by adding a needed third runway and another international terminal. Work is also being planned on the second runway as well as ideas on increasing the variety of transportation between the airport and the capital. The goal would be to increase the 12 million passengers a year to as much as 30 million passengers a year, which would of course increase the air traffic hence the new runway.
On the third of September 1964 Sheremetyevo-1 was opened specifically for domestic flights whereas Sheremetyevo-2 was only opened two decades later as the entrance for foreign flights for the Moscow Olympics. The second entrance is bigger and is where passengers coming in and out of the country will find the arrival and departure lounges. The Sheremetyevo-1 entrance for domestic flights is almost a separate airport, with its terminal building being some distance from the main terminals, although they use the same two runways.