Moscow's Vnukovo airport opens new terminal

A new international terminal will open at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Saturday, Pyotr Aksyonov, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, told reporters.

"The Moscow government owns the controlling block of shares in the Vnukovo airport, and its objective is to make the airport one of the best in Russia," said Mr. Aksyonov. According to the deputy mayor, Vnukovo has a number of advantages to other Moscow airports, including in terms of the wind rose.

The new terminal's area is 25,000 sq. m., while its capacity is 1,200 passengers an hour. The updated infrastructure will allow the terminal to service up to 4 million passengers a year. The construction of six of the planned 23 telegangways will be completed in the near future.

The opening of the terminal is the first phase of the project to reconstruct the Vnukovo international airport as part of the scheme of the comprehensive development of the Moscow air junction before 2015, which was worked out by the transport ministry. The scheme will require a total of $1,300 million in investments $500 million of which will be invested before 2007.

The main runway will be prolonged up to 3 km 860 m. The airport will, thereby, be able to receive all types of aircraft in the third category of the meteorological landing minimum. The construction of 24 parking lots for wide-body planes is also in plan.

The sections of the highways leading to the airport will be reconstructed as part of the airport development concept. A monorail line will be laid from the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro to the airport, and it will take no longer than 20 to 30 minutes to get from Moscow to the airport