The volume of freight traffic at Sheremetyevo International Airport exceeded pre-pandemic figures. In the 1st quarter of 2021, Sheremetyevo handled over 80 thousand tons of cargo and about 8.5 thousand tons of mail, confirming its status as the largest cargo hub in Russia and a leader among Moscow airports with a 68.7% share of the UIA cargo and postal air transportation market.
The total cargo turnover of Sheremetyevo for the 1st quarter of 2021 increased by 4.5% compared to the same period in 2020, which is especially noteworthy against the background of a significant reduction in carrying capacities associated with international restrictions on passenger air traffic, which were introduced at the end of March and early April 2020. Cargo transportation on domestic airlines (IDL), which returned to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2020, continues to demonstrate positive dynamics.
In the 1st quarter of 2021, the cargo operator Moscow Cargo handled over 21 thousand tons of domestic flights, which is 19% more than in the same period last year. The largest growth was seen in the import cargoes of the domestic air force, the volume of which increased by more than 1.5 times. Exports of domestic income grew by 9%, transfer – by 12.9%. The increase in domestic flights was due to the growth in traffic on the flights of Sheremetyevo’s strategic partner – Aeroflot Group.
The volume of cargo of international airlines handled by Sheremetyevo increased by 6.3%. China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the United States remain the main external routes, which accounted for about half of the total freight traffic. On the domestic routes, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, and Yekaterinburg have been added to the traditionally demanded Far Eastern routes – Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
The largest volume of export and transit cargo transportation in the first quarter was recorded in the following directions: Amsterdam (AMS), Frankfurt (FRA), Shanghai (PVG), Beijing (PEK), Vladivostok (VVO), Khabarovsk (KHV), and Krasnoyarsk (KJA).
