Russia's former transport minister Igor Levitin has been assigned to supervise creation of an integrated Moscow airport system.
Presidential administration chief Sergey Ivanov says Levitin is tasked with "one of the most important issues" for the country's transport industry.
"He'll supervise development of a unified Moscow aviation hub. First of all, this envisages consolidating Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airport activities," he adds.
To carry out the project, a designated management company is to be set up under Levitin's auspices. "Our goal is to achieve synergies through merging state aviation assets in primary Moscow airports and streamlining their operations under a single structure," says Ivanov.
Levitin advocated this approach to managing the Moscow aviation node when he headed the transport ministry. The planned entity should comprise government-owned stakes of 83% and 75% in Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, respectively, as well as the airside infrastructure of Domodedovo.
East Line Group operates privately-held Domodedovo under a 75-year lease agreement with the Russian state property committee.
While the country's passenger numbers totalled 64 million in 2011, combined throughput of the three airports reached 56.5 million.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news