Sheremetyevo shutting third runway, pausing investment projects as air traffic plummets

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport has come up with a set of anti-crisis measures as air traffic plummets due to the sanctions imposed against Russia.

"To maintain balanced operations at the airport, Sheremetyevo management has taken a number of decisions: investment projects have been suspended, and all non-operating costs have been significantly reduced," Anna Zakharenkova, the airport's PR chief, told reporters.

These include shutting one of the three runways - the third one which is the farthest from the passenger terminals. The airport closed Terminal D on March 15.

Sheremetyevo has five passenger terminals: D, E, F in the southern part and B and C in the northern part. Terminals E and F were closed before D, the former in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and the latter at the end of 2021 for a retrofit.

Zakharenkova said Sheremetyevo also changed the train timetable for services between the southern and northern terminals: one of the two trains has been running since March 15.

"The main task at this stage is to preserve as much of the company's operating potential as possible to ensure it can work without disruption in current conditions, and, going forward, to ensure the restoration and further increase in passenger and freight traffic," she said.