Domestic Technical Solutions Crucial to Sheremetyevo’s Security Systems

Domestic technical solutions are proving to be very efficient, Sheremetyevo Airport’s security systems showed. According to the airport’s security officials, most of the logistics were changed ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup that took place in the country, and passengers are now seeing the benefits of those efforts.

“I especially want to praise the security systems on the airport perimeter that are being supplied by the Yaroslavl-based PSTs Elektronika [Production and Service Center Electronics]. The perimeter of the airport has changed a lot. Before the 2018 World Cup, it was streamlined – all twists and turns were removed as much as possible, and a new mesh viewing fence was put in place,” Sheremetyevo’s Depuy Director for Aviation Security, Viktor Yermakov, told Transport Security and Technologies Magazine in an interviews.

Moscow’s biggest airport has also invested a lot into viable technical solutions that ensure the utmost safety for its passengers, Yermakov pointed out.

“Of the innovations used in terminals B and C, it is worth noting the technical solutions for CCTV cameras, which allow, among other things, to search in the passenger flow. Also, there is a transport safety management point for the entire terminal complex of Sheremetyevo-1, the cargo complex and the new Runway #3. Terminal C uses Grade III security standard, where high-speed CT scanners are already at the 1st level of baggage inspection. Passengers and their cabin baggage are inspected using an automated system with sorters and tray return, and inspectors process the image from the scanners during carry-on inspection in a separate operator room in order to rule out the human factor of being next to the passenger,” Yermakov said.

Sheremetyevo Airport’s security systems meet all necessary requirements for airport protection systems, he adds.

“The standard set is typical for all airports: single- and twin-projection X-ray television scanners for baggage inspection, CT scanners for pre-flight inspection, multi-zone stationary metal detectors, hand-held metal detectors, and portable gas analyzers. Microwave portals are used as additional equipment after the metal detector frames. They improve the quality of the inspection procedure, especially during the winter period, when a person has a lot of clothes on. Also, dogs are used for inspection under a contract with the Aeroflot dog handing service. It should be said that nothing better than an attentive well-trained specialist with a scanner and a dog has yet been invented,” Yermakov points out in the interview.

Sheremetyevo International Airport is the largest in Russia in terms of passenger and freight traffic, takeoff and landing operations, the area of the airport complex, and the cargo complex capacity. Its route network includes more than 220 destinations. It is on the list of the ten largest air hubs in Europe and the 50 busiest airports in the world. It has five passenger and two cargo terminals.