Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport () is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia, as well as the 13th-busiest airport in Europe. Originally built as a military airbase, Sheremetyevo was converted into a civilian airport in 1959. The airport was originally named after a nearby village, and a 2019 contest extended the name to include the name of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
The airport comprises six terminals: four international terminals (one under construction), one domestic terminal, and one private aviation terminal. It is located northwest of central Moscow, between towns of Lobnya and Khimki in Moscow Oblast.
In 2017, the airport handled about 40.1 million passengers and 308,090 aircraft movements. During 2018, the airport reported a 14.3% increase in passengers for a total of 45.8 million. There was also a 15.9% increase in aircraft traffic year over year. Sheremetyevo serves as the main hub for Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and its branch Rossiya Airlines; Nordwind Airlines and its branch Pegas Fly; and Ural Airlines.
History
Soviet era
The airport was originally built as a military airfield called Sheremetyevsky (), named after a village of the same name, as well as the Savelov station on the railway of the same name. The decree for the construction of the Central Airdrome of the Air Force near the settlement of Chashnikovo () on the outskirts of Moscow was issued on 1 September 1953 by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The airport became operational on 7 November 1957 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution.
In August 1959, the Council of Ministers made a decree to terminate the airbase's use for military purposes, where it would be handled over to the Principal Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet to be converted as a civilian airport. Sheremetyevo's civilian purposes started on 11 August 1959 when a Tupolev Tu-104B landed onto the airport from Leningrad. The first international flight took place on 1 June 1960 to Berlin Schönefeld Airport using an Ilyushin Il-18. Sheremetyevo was officially opened on the day after, where a two-story terminal occupying was commissioned. On 3 September 1964, the Sheremetyevo-1 terminal was opened. Of that year, 18 foreign airlines had regular flights to Sheremetyevo, with up to 10 different types of aircraft involved. By the end of 1964, Sheremetyevo handled 822,000 passengers and 23,000 tons of mail and cargo, including 245,000 passengers and 12,000 tons of cargo that were transported internationally. Soon, by the end of 1965, a majority of international flights to the USSR was achieved through Sheremetyevo thanks to Aeroflot's air traffic agreements with 47 countries.
In the early 1970s, a second runway was constructed at Sheremetyevo, with the first airliner to land being an Ilyushin Il-62. In preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics, construction of a second terminal for Sheremetyevo, Sheremetyevo-2, was approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in early 1976. Construction of Sheremetyevo-2 started on 17 November 1977.
On 1 January 1980, Sheremetyevo-2 was put into operation, with a capacity to serve an annual 6 million passengers, or 2,100 passengers per hour. Despite this, its official opening ceremony was held much later, on 6 May 1980. During the Olympics, Sheremetyevo served more than 460,000 international passengers.
Contemporary era
On 11 November 1991, Sheremetyevo International Airport received its legal status as a state-owned enterprise, amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 9 July 1996, Sheremetyevo became an open joint-stock company. In 1997, the airport renovated one of its runways with a 30–35 cm thick concrete surface.
In the early 2000s, Sheremetyevo saw growing competition from the rapidly expanding Domodedovo International Airport, which was more modern and convenient to access, and the neighbouring Vnukovo Airport. Sheremetyevo saw 24 of its airlines, notably domestic airlines such as Sibir, KrasAir, Transaero, Pulkovo Airlines, and UTAir, as well as international airlines Air Malta, Adria Airlines, Swiss, British Airways, and Emirates, move their services to Domodedovo. As a result, Aeroflot pushed for a third terminal for the airport, Sheremetyevo-3, to increase the airport's passenger capacity as well as be able to fulfill its requirements to join Skyteam.