Vladimir Putin's opening address:

Good afternoon,

We are meeting here at Sheremetyevo Airport today to discuss the plans and projects to develop the Moscow air traffic hub. We have invited to this meeting the heads of the major Moscow airports and leading national airlines in order to hear every point of view and make decisions on key issues. We already held a preliminary meeting on this subject and agreed on a number of issues. I will let you know about this.

You know that the bulk of our domestic and international flights are carried out through the Moscow airports. Tens of thousands of passengers use their services every day and large cargo shipments go through them as well. Major Russian airlines are also registered in the Moscow airports and operate there. This is why we devote special attention to reconstructing and upgrading the Moscow air traffic hub (and will continue to do so in the future – we have gathered here to discuss these issues) and invest considerable funds into the development of the airports' infrastructure.

Much has been done in the last few years at the major Moscow airports – Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo. Runways have been upgraded, new terminals have been built and modern navigation systems and landing equipment have been installed. Air traffic is growing fast – during the past year alone the passenger traffic of the Moscow air hub grew by 20% to exceed 50 million people. About 22.3 million people pass through Domodedovo Airport per year, 19.3 million through Sheremetyevo, and 9.5 million through Vnukovo. These figures are close to the limit of the current infrastructure and traffic is likely to grow in the future.

The Moscow air traffic hub carried 3.8 million passengers in January 2011. This is an 11% increase compared to the same month of last year. This is why now we must concentrate our efforts on improving the performance of the airports, making air travel safer and more comfortable and developing modern services.

We are planning to double the traffic of the three major Moscow airports to reach up to 100 million passengers by 2020. The current ground-based infrastructure of the Moscow air hub can serve about 65 million passengers. The operating air traffic system over Moscow makes it possible to serve 80 million passengers per year. Our main goal is to make the Moscow air hub the most important in Russia – a modern international air traffic centre operating at the highest level.

The effective organisation of transport is a key condition for Moscow's successful development as a major world centre of business, science and culture. Moreover, transport services may considerably promote the economic growth of Moscow and the Moscow Region, create new jobs and generate additional tax revenues for the budgets of all levels. In this regard, I'd like to note the key points for us to discuss.

First, it is necessary to continue modernising and developing the ground-based facilities of the Moscow airports. I've just spoken with the mayor of Moscow, the transport minister and representatives of the Finance Ministry and we agreed to merge Sheremetyevo, which is completely owned by the Russian government, and Vnukovo, in which the Moscow city government owns 75% of shares. According to preliminary estimates, this will cost several tens of billions of roubles. All in all, Moscow will have to spend about 45-50 billion roubles to upgrade Vnukovo. We will pay Moscow this money from the federal budget.

We've just talked with the mayor of Moscow. He believes, and I support his opinion, that these funds will also be spent on the development of the Moscow metro. The synergy has been achieved that will create the conditions for a considerable increase in passenger and cargo traffic. Adjacent facilities at Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports will eventually help us save money from the federal budget. I mean that both airports... We'll have to build more roads to Sheremetyevo. As for Vnukovo, Moscow invested quite a large sum of money in it in the past. But at the same time I'd like to note that the government is not planning to keep these assets forever. This step is aimed at creating an integral complex, building the necessary technical facilities for it, and eventually at putting it on the market and allowing it to be privatised.

In this respect, our priority is to complete the reconstruction of the runways at Vnukovo in 2012 and build a new, third runway at Sheremetyevo in the next few years. Our main national airline, Aeroflot, operates out of Sheremetyevo. In this context, I'd like to ask the Finance Ministry, the Transport Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development to provide the necessary funds and organise construction work.

So, the next point is that experts say that the air traffic control systems themselves offer a significant opportunity for boosting the capacity of Moscow airports. Moscow’s airspace needs to be used more efficiently so that airplanes do not have to circle over the airport before landing or wait to be cleared for take-off. Over 40 new air traffic routes have been introduced in Moscow’s airspace since 2005, which has significantly improved air traffic pacing and cost efficiency. We certainly need to build on that, reequip air traffic control centres and introduce new up-to-date means of navigation. At our meeting today I would like to ask representatives of the relevant government bodies and heads of airports and airlines to state their proposals in this respect, including those pertaining to streamlining air traffic routes.

The third point is that the development of the Moscow air hub needs to go along with the modernisation of road infrastructure around airports. We need a truly integrated system without traffic jams so that all means of transport are interconnected conveniently and securely. We have to remedy the current situation in which passengers have to spend hours to get to an airport because of traffic jams, with the trips to the airport taking even longer than the flight.

The Moscow city government has identified transport issues as one of its priorities and has set aside significant funds. Naturally, we will be supporting these measures.

As we agreed, the Ministry of Transport and the governments of Moscow and the Moscow Region need to cooperate closely. Moreover, an ad hoc coordinating committee has been set up for this. I would also like to request those in charge to consider modernising the railway infrastructure that connects the city to the airports.  Fast trains and an intermodal transport system will help relieve some of the strain from roads in Moscow and the region. These types of high-speed transport will cut transport time on the roads from downtown Moscow to airports and make travel time more predictable. I also want to invite our colleagues who don’t know how this system works to experience it first hand.

The fourth point is that Moscow certainly needs to make better use of its competitive advantages. The Russian capital has all it takes to reinforce its position as a large international transport hub. The share of transit traffic in Moscow airports is dramatically lower than that in equivalent European hubs. We need to gradually build up transit traffic and actively adopt international practices, especially in ensuring that connecting flights are properly arranged and in improving customs control and passenger services. To my mind, a step in this direction has already been made – we now have an airport terminal where a passenger does not have to leave and passengers do not have to undergo customs and border procedures in another area.

Naturally, we should not forget about the development of other air hubs in Russia and interregional transport systems. Transit routes do not necessarily have to run through Moscow. It is inefficient and sometimes inconvenient, especially when people have to fly to neighbouring regions through Moscow. We need to develop airports in St Petersburg, Samara, Rostov, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok.

The fifth point is that we need to boost the quality and safety of airport security systems. We have talked about this a lot, especially following the bombing at Domodedovo. The priority in this area is to ensure the safety of every individual passenger. We have to improve airports’ security infrastructure and create an efficient system for body searches and the inspection of luggage and cargo. Certainly, we need to do this in a way that will not result in long queues.

I would also like to point out that the work of law enforcement and security agencies at related infrastructure facilities has to be organised properly. There should be no disharmony or lack of coordination; nobody should be shifting the responsibility to somebody else. This work needs to be organised smoothly for the sake of our people’s security.

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Vladimir Putin’s closing remarks:

Colleagues,

Let me thank all those in attendance for participating in today’s discussions. Clearly, the issues we’ve addressed are important and wide-ranging. Their solution will depend on how effectively we can coordinate the efforts of federal and municipal bodies with the business and research organisations whose leaders have joined us here today. This is no easy task, but we are up to it. We cannot go on ignoring the problem, and the question has now become how expediently we can resolve it.

Air traffic will not stop growing, so we need to do all we can to raise the competitiveness of our air carriers, airport operators, and the aviation sector as a whole in order for it to work efficiently for the benefit of the nation. We’ll take due account of the suggestions voiced at today’s meeting, document them, and try to translate them into reality. I’ll instruct the relevant government agencies to see this process through. Thank you.