Sheremetyevo Became No. 2 Airport in Europe in Terms of Direct Connectivity Growth

Sheremetyevo International Airport took second place in terms of direct connectivity growth among European airports with more than 25 million passengers a year according to Airport Industry Connectivity Report 2018 by ACI Europe. 

Sheremetyevo showed steady growth by 17.8 percent compared to 2017 and ranked second due to the launching of flights by new airlines as well as due to the growth in the frequency of flights. The same factors let Sheremetyevo jump from the 30th position in 2008 among European airports to the 10th this year in terms of overall direct connectivity that stands for the range of direct air routes available from the airport including frequency of flights.

The direct connectivity of Sheremetyevo increased by 109.5 percent from 2008 and by 50.8 percent from 2013. Sheremetyevo network has expanded from 181 routes in 2013 to 200 in 2018 and showed a significant increase in the frequency of flights. Some of the destinations, which saw a significant rise in daily flights to and from are Tel Aviv (from 1 to 5), Sochi (from 5 to 12), Yerevan (from 3 to 7), Riga (from 4 to 8), Saint Petersburg (from 15 to 23).

Sheremetyevo increased its hub connectivity and moved to the 17th position worldwide from the 35th back in 2008. Hub connectivity measures the number of connecting flights that can be facilitated by the hub airport in question – taking into account a minimum and maximum connecting times, and weighting the quality of the connections by the detour involved and connecting times.

Sheremetyevo shows sustained growth in transit traffic: 8 million 376 thousand passengers switched flights at the airport in 2017. It is 74 percent more than in 2013. Due to the rise of international passenger traffic, the routes connecting destinations in distant foreign countries became the most popular among transfer passengers.

Implementation of the Long-Term Development Program will let Sheremetyevo achieve increased capacity of 80 million passengers per year by 2026 and enter the TOP 10 world largest passenger hubs.

Sheremetyevo International Airport is the largest Russian airport in terms of passenger and freight traffic, takeoff and landing operations, the area of the airport facilities and the capacity of the cargo facilities. The Sheremetyevo route network comprises more than 200 destinations. In 2017, Sheremetyevo set a historic record for passenger traffic, serving 40 million 93 thousand people what is 17.8 percent more than in 2016.

Sheremetyevo International Airport was Europe’s best airport for service quality in 2012, 2013 and 2015 in the ACI (Airports Council International) ASQ (Airport Service Quality) rating. In 2016 and 2017 Sheremetyevo was ranked first in Europe for the quality of passenger service in the category of airports with a passenger flow of 25-40 million people per year.