Bumper cargo year for Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport

Sheremetyevo  International  Airport registered a double-digit percentage increase in airfreight demand in 2017 thanks to improving consumer confidence and growth in e-commerce demand.
The Moscow hub saw total airfreight volumes increase by 27.3% year on year to 290,000 tonnes, meaning it handled more than 60% of total air cargo demand processes through the Russian capital’s airports. Mail volumes for the year were up by 43.8% to 35,000 tonnes.
"The main factors of rising air cargo traffic were:  the  long-awaited  pick-up in investment in Europe, buoyant consumer confidence, as well as reports of strong growth in international e-commerce flows," the airport said.
JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport chairman of the board of directors Alexander  Ponomarenko said: "The significant growth of cargo turnover at Sheremetyevo Airport and the rising demands of cargo airlines are owing to the worldwide trend that demonstrates a major increase in airfreight traffic volume.
"Thus, it determines strategic development goals of Sheremetyevo International Airport: to establish itself as the leading European hub for global cargo flows.
"By 2024, we expect to handle more than 700,000 tonnes of cargo annually. To achieve this ambitious goal, the engineering and construction of the second cargo terminal with a capacity of 380,000 tonnes per year is set to commence in 2018."
International demand led the improvements, with the airport’s main handler, Moscow Cargo, seeing international demand increase by 55.7%, with international transfer cargo up by 68.6% and imports improved by 42%.
The most popular international routes, accounting for more than 50% of the total freight traffic, were China, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, the US.
The largest increase in outbound and transit freight traffic in 2017 was marked on the routes to Zhengzhou (CGO), New York (JFK), Heathrow (LHR), Chengdu  (CTU).
The most impressive growth of inbound and transit freight traffic was seen on the routes from Delhi (DEL), Hanoi (HAN), Oslo (OSL), Brussels (BRU).
On the domestic flights, the Far East (Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky) remained the busiest link last year.
To cater for future growth, at the end of 2017 Moscow Cargo started commercial operation of the the  largest cargo complex in Russia. It also has plans to open a second terminal.
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