Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport Duty Free

Sheremetyevo International Airport has four operating passenger terminals and one special terminal reserved for the use of private and business aviation. The airport’s terminals are divided into two groups based on geographical location: the north and south terminal areas. The two terminal areas are linked by regular internal and external bus services.

North terminals

Terminal A

Opened in 2012 to the east of Terminal B, Terminal A is used for the servicing of business and private aviation. Twenty-two remote stands, which previously made up the ‘Western Sector’ of Terminal B, now belong to Terminal A.

Terminal B

Terminal B, previously Sheremetyevo-1, catered mainly to internal low-cost flights. The terminal has 64 remote aircraft stands, including 8 stands used for the maintenance of Aeroflot aircraft, and five in the ‘Eastern Sector’ which are used to service cargo flights. Located in the northern part of the airport, the terminal was put into operation in 1964. Is divided into two buildings: the arrival hall zone and departures area. Terminal B is remarkable for its architecturally unique and unusual spaceship-like gate area, which is connected to the main building by a passenger footbridge. The terminal’s design was masterminded by a project team working under the guidance of architects and G Elkin Yu Kryukov.

Terminal C

Terminal C cost an estimated US$87.7 million to construct. It has 40,000 m² (430,000 sq ft) of floorspace and has a capacity of 5 million passengers per year. The terminal now tends to handle flights of CIS carriers and charter airlines. On March 12, 2007, Sheremetyevo opened its first entirely new-build terminal for the servicing of international flights. Located in the northern part of the airport and adjacent to Terminal B, it has 30 check-in counters, 36 passport control booths, a three-level automatic baggage sorting system, and six air bridges. Terminal C is connected by way of an elevated pedestrian gallery with a multi-story parking facility for 1,000 vehicles. In autumn 2008, an orthodox chapel (of Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless) was opened on the terminal’s third (departures) floor.

South terminals

Terminal D

Terminal D, opened in November 2009, is adjacent to Terminal F. The 172,000 m² (1,850,000 sq ft) building is a hub for Aeroflot and its SkyTeam partners, with capacity for 12 million passengers per year. Aeroflot had been trying to implement the project of a new terminal (Sheremetyevo-3) since January 2001. However, construction only began in 2005, with commissioning of the complex finally taking place on 15 November 2009. The acquisition of its own terminal was a condition of Aeroflot’s entry into the SkyTeam airline alliance, thus necessitating the construction. The main contractor for the build was a Turkish company – Enka. Terminal D has 22 jetways and 11 remote stands. On November 15, 2009 at 9:15 a.m., the first flight from Terminal D (the new official name of Sheremetyevo-3) departed for the southern resort city of Sochi. Despite this, Aeroflot took a number of months (due to unexpected administrative delays) to transfer all of its international flights from Terminal F to D (a full transfer was originally planned for February 2010).^[9] Whilst previously Terminal D had remained a separate legal entity from the rest of Sheremetyevo Airport, in spring 2012, it became an integrated unit of “Sheremetyevo International Airport” JSC. As part of the deal, Aeroflot, VEB Bank, and VTB Bank, all of which had invested in the construction of Terminal D, became part shareholders in the airport as a whole. The basis for the architectural and artistic image of Terminal D is that of a giant swan with outstretched wings.

Terminal E

Terminal E opened in 2010 as a capacity expansion project, connecting terminals D and F. The terminal’s construction has allowed for the development of terminals D and F, as well as the railway station, into a single south terminal complex. The terminals of this complex are connected by a number of pedestrian walkways with travelators, thus allowing for passengers to move freely between its constituent facilities. In December 2010, a new chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas opened on the second floor of Terminal E. The terminal is used for international flights, primarily by Aeroflot and its SkyTeam partners. Terminal E has 8 jetway equipped gates. The V-Express Transit Hotel between security/passport check-ins provides short-term accommodations for passengers changing planes without having to present a visa for entering Russia. The hotel drew international attention in June 2013 when Edward Snowden checked into the hotel while seeking asylum.

Terminal F

Opened on May 6, 1980 for the Moscow Summer Olympics, Terminal F, previously Sheremetyevo-2, has 15 jetways and 21 remote aircraft stands. The terminal was designed to service 6 million passengers per year. Until the completion of Terminal C, it was Sheremetyevo’s only terminal that was capable of adequately servicing international flights. The design is a larger version of the one of Hannover-Langenhagen Airport by the same architects. A major reconstruction of the terminal and its interior space was completed by late 2009. For the convenience of passengers, the departures lounge and Duty Free zone were thoroughly modernised, whilst a number of partition walls were removed to create extra retail and lounge space.