Minister of Transportation of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Dietrich conducted an inspection at Sheremetyevo International Airport, the country’s largest aviation hub, on May 16 to determine the airport’s readiness to resume air operations with the safety measures necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Minister Dietrich was accompanied by Alexander Ponomarenko, the Chairman of SVO JSC, the operator of the airport, and Director General M.M. Vasilenko during the comprehensive phased inspection of the terminal infrastructure and the measures of protection that have been put in place against coronavirus infection.
Sheremetyevo Airport has retained production resources for the prompt resumption of full-scale operational activities. The airdrome is fully prepared for the start of regular transportation with a capacity of 80 take-off and landing operations per hour, which is enough to ensure the predicted volume of passenger traffic.
Special care is taken at Sheremetyevo to organize passenger traffic in ways that ensure the safety and health of customers, guests and employees. The following significant measures have been put in place:
– Terminal F has been allocated for serving passengers arriving from countries with unfavorable epidemiological conditions.
– In the baggage claim hall of Terminal F, workplaces for medical personnel of the Moscow Department of Health, the Ministry of Health for Moscow Region, Rospotrebnadzor, and the Medical Unit of SVO JSC were set up.
– Two teams of the Territorial Center for Emergency Medicine for Moscow Region are constantly on duty at the airport.
– The terminals have isolation wards with a separate entrance from the platform, eliminating the possibility that healthy and infected passengers will come into contact with each other.
– Periodic checks of the operability of the ventilation system and continuous disinfection of all rooms are carried out.
– Automatic non-contact hand disinfectors are installed in the bathrooms of all airport terminals, and all sanitary devices are touch-sensitive and touch-free.
– Masks, gloves and antiseptics in pharmacies and vending machines are available for purchase.
– Testing of the SVO Group of companies’ personnel for COVID-19 is arranged in accordance with the requirements of the Chief State Sanitary Physician of the Russian Federation.
– Over 2,000,000 medical masks were purchased for the staff of the SVO Group of companies.
– The staff of the SVO Group of companies is provided with personal protective equipment (anti-plague suits, gloves, disinfectants, etc.) in sufficient quantities.
The airport separated flows of people at all stages of pre-flight and post-flight procedures:
– In technological areas wh ere services are provided for passengers and personnel (check-in counters, entrance groups, pre-flight security checkpoints, boarding gates), there are markings on the floor to ensure social distancing of 1.5 meters.
– The airport regularly provides information to visitors through various communication channels about the rules of conduct at the airport during the pandemic.
At full-scale thermometry system for passengers and personnel is in use:
– 23 thermal imaging cameras at the airport are used to identify potential patients with coronavirus infection.
– Before starting work, the staff undergoes mandatory measurement of body temperature in 10 specialized health centers.
– Body temperature measurements are taken during the treatment of passengers and employees of the SVO Group of companies using stationary, portable thermo-vision cameras, as well as at the health centers of the terminals (both for passengers and staff) and the clinic of the Medical Unit of SVO JSC.
Sheremetyevo Airport will continue to implement all necessary measures to combat the spread of coronavirus infection and protect the health of passengers and staff in strict compliance with the orders of the Russian Government and authorized government agencies.
Sheremetyevo International Airport is among the TOP-10 airport hubs in Europe, the largest Russian airport in terms of passenger and cargo traffic. In 2019, the airport served 49 million 933 thousand passengers, which was 8.9% more than in 2018.
