Travel Notes

Sheremetyevo 3

This time they mean it! Aeroflot will definitely build a third terminal at Sheremetyevo Airport, the airline’s management announced in November. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2005, and will be completed in 2007, the Moscow Times reported. Aeroflot first announced its intention to build the new terminal in 2000, and to have it completed by the end of 2003. But infighting between the airport, the airline and various government bodies and officials halted the project soon after a February 2001 groundbreaking ceremony.

The new terminal is crucial to Aeroflot’s development. With a capacity to service eight million passengers per year, it would significantly ease congestion at the two existing terminals, while making Moscow a more attractive hub for transit flights between Asia and Europe.

Aeroflot Charter

Aeroflot plans to launch its own charter airline, Aeroflot Deputy General Director Lev Koshlyakov said in November. Koshlyakov said Aeroflot has recently purchased shares of Continental Airlines’ charter company and plans to launch its own charters on the basis of that acquisition. (Rosbalt)

Russia for Peanuts

Next year, Russia could be invaded by cheap airlines such as UK’s EasyJet or Ireland’s Ryanair, avia.ru reported. Moscow’s Domodedovo airport has floated the idea of building a separate terminal for discount airlines. “We do not have concrete plans to build the terminal, but the idea exists and is under discussion,” Domodedovo’s Sergei Gorbunov told RBK. Other airports do not plan to accommodate budget airlines. “Our policy concerning cheap airlines is straightforward: we will not allow them into the Russian market, because our market does not need them,” said Nikolai Shipil, head of the Federal Agency for Aviation, in an interview with Mayak Radio.

The House will Stand

In November, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov denied rumors that the city plans to raze the historic and infamous House on the Embankment, ITAR-TASS reported. Luzhkov’s statement came after a number of media reported that the huge building would be demolished. Located directly across the Moskva River from the Kremlin, the House on the Embankment was built in the 1930s to house high-ranking Communist Party officials. But the building’s elite reputation soon turned sour, when many of its privileged residents were driven away in the middle of the night during Stalin’s purges, never to return.

New Moscow Hotels

Five new hotels were opened in Moscow at the end of 2004. Three were three-star hotels, located on Pyatnitskaya ulitsa, Kosinskaya ulitsa and Voznesensky pereulok. A four-star hotel will be opened on Degtyarny pereulok, and a four-star hotel and office complex will be unveiled on Myasnitskaya ulitsa. Sixteen new hotels are to be built in Moscow over the next two years, RIA news agency reported, citing Moscow authorities. A new, eleven-storey Intourist hotel will be one of them, featuring 332 guest rooms, restaurants, a fitness centre and a swimming pool. A total of 200 new three- and four-star hotels are to be built in Moscow over the next six years.

Moskva Hotel Site in Limbo

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov announced in October that the space where the historic Moskva Hotel once stood may in fact be left open, Vremya Novostey daily reported. After the hotel was razed, Luzhkov said, “one of the city’s grandest squares emerged, with breathtaking and dizzying views.” Earlier, Luzhkov said that a replica of the Moskva Hotel would be built on the site. “If investors who have invested money in the hotel’s demolition and reconstruction agree,” Luzhkov said, the site could be made into a public square. He added that a final decision on the site’s fate should be made after public discussion.

New Monorail

A monorail was opened in northeast Moscow on 20 November, RIA Novosti reported. The monorail line makes stops at the VDNKh All-Russian Exposition Center, Ostankino TV Tower, Ostankino Park and Sheremetyev’s Estate. As this issue was going to press, Moscow authorities said that the monorail would work not merely as an excursion train, but, starting in 2005, as a passenger train as well. Tickets will cost approximately R50 (almost $2), but a monthly pass would cost about the same as a monthly metro pass. Initially, the rail line will have five trains, later to be increased to eight.

A Busy Hermitage

Over two million people visited the Hermitage Museuam in 2004, the museum’s director, Mikhail Piotrovsky said. Piotrovsky also announced that the Hermitage plans to open a Fabergé museum in St Petersburg.