Alexander S. Pushkin Sheremetyevo International Airport (Internal code: ШРМ, IATA: SVO, ICAO: UUEE), more commonly known as Sheremetyevo International Airport or simply Sheremetyevo is the busiest of the four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-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 29 km (18 mi) northwest of central Moscow, between the towns of Lobnya and Khimki in Moscow Oblast.
In 2019, the airport handled about 49.9 million passengers. Sheremetyevo serves as the main hub for Russian flag carrier Aeroflot as well as its subsidiaries Rossiya Airlines and Pobeda, for Nordwind Airlines and its subsidiary Ikar, and for Smartavia.
The airport was built as a military airfield called Sheremetyevsky (Шереметьевский), named after a village of the same name, as well as the nearby railway station 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 handed over to the Principal Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet to be converted into a civilian airport. Sheremetyevo's civilian purposes started on 11 August 1959 when a Tupolev Tu-104B landed at 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 1,820 square metres (19,600 sq ft) 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.
Irish author Dervla Murphy described arriving into and overnighting at the airport in 1983 as part of a trip to Madagascar as Aeroflot were the cheapest carrier:
We landed at Moscow in brilliant sunshine. Beside the runway, peasant women wearing headscarves were languidly raking hay in golden meadows; if there is a production target for haycocks it was not bothering them. Ninety minutes and several long queues later we were in the nearby Airport Hotel, a gaunt glass and concrete block which for transit passengers like us, staying overnight without visas, is literally a prison. All its doors were guarded twenty-four hours a day by armed men, impassive but alert in smart green uniforms. Others of that ilk supervise one's fifty-yard walk from the bus to the hotel entrance, and back again when departure time comes. Any passenger who steps out of line provokes a yell and a scowl from the nearest guard. The general effect is of a neurotic mistrust holding the Soviet psyche by the throat.
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 (12–14 in) thick concrete surface.
In the early 2000s, Sheremetyevo saw growing competition from the rapidly expanding Moscow Domodedovo 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.
In the late 2000s, Sheremetyevo oversaw rapid planning and expansion of the airport. On 12 March 2007, the airport opened Terminal C to maximise the airport's international passenger capacity. On 5 March 2008, the airport renovated its second runway to receive all types of aircraft, including the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. An Aeroexpress line was constructed between Sheremetyevo and Savyolovsky Railway Station on 10 June 2008, reducing traveling time from the airport to central Moscow to 30 minutes. In January 2009, Sheremetyevo finalised a master plan where it would increase passenger capacity to an annual 64 million per year and build a second airfield with a third runway. On 15 November 2009, construction of Terminal D was completed, with a total surface area of 172,000 square metres (1,850,000 sq ft), an annual capacity of 12 million passengers, and operation being putting forth in the beginning of next year. Sheremetyevo-2 was renamed Terminal F on 25 December 2009 with terminal identification using international (Latin) lettering.
Expansion of Sheremetyevo continued into 2010. Sheremetyevo-1 was renamed Terminal B on 28 March. Terminal E was opened on 30 April, connecting Terminal D and Terminal F and increasing the airport's capacity to 35 million passengers per year. In June, construction started for Terminal A, a private aviation terminal. In July, a walkway opened between Terminals D, E, F, and the Aeroexpress railway terminal on the public access side. In November, a walkway opened between Terminals D, E, and F on the security side. Both of have simplified transfer between transit flights. Ultimately, after the northern the recent construction work, the airport now has the capacity to receive more than 40 million passengers annually.
On 28 March 2011, a separate airfield that would serve as Sheremetyevo's third runway was approved. On 13 December 2011, the Federal Agency for State Property Management approved an agreement that merged the airport operators OAO Terminal (operator of Terminal D) and OJSC Sheremetyevo, consolidating control of the airport under one entity. On 26 December 2011, a new area control centre (ACC) was opened for Sheremetyevo, consolidating operations of the airport's different control centres to increase efficiency. The situational centre was also created as part of the ACC for joint work of top-managers, heads of state bodies, and partners of Sheremetyevo to resolve emergencies.
On 30 December 2013, TPS Avia successfully won a competitive tender to develop Sheremetyevo International Airport's northern area, including a new passenger terminal, a new freight terminal, a refuelling area and a tunnel linking the passenger terminal to three other terminals.