Moscow Domodedovo International, Russia’s largest airport, has chosen SITA, the aviation IT specialist, to provide extensive self-service facilities to manage the 22 million passengers which the airport is expecting during 2008.

The airport, which is also the largest in Eastern Europe, handled close to 19 million passengers in 2007 and is expecting a growth rate of 18 % to bring passenger numbers to 22 million in 2008. To continue delivering high-quality passenger services in the face of this growth, the airport operators have selected SITA’s AirportConnect Open and Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosks.

These systems will provide both self-service check-in and shared use agent check-in positions which will free up significant space at the airport. In addition, Domodedovo Handling, the handling agent at the airport, will use SITA Departure Control Services enabling mid-size and smaller airlines to offer self-service check-in without major IT investment on their part.

Sergey Rudakov, Director of Domodedovo Airport Complex, said “For the past 2 years, we have successfully used SITA’s baggage reconciliation technology, so it was to SITA we turned for the specialist advice and technology to cope with our significant growth. The airport is a large transfer hub. We intend to become one of the top five European airports by 2020 and we need new technologies to ensure that the airport, and our partner airlines, remain competitive. We are confident that the solutions provided by SITA will enable us to make a significant step in that direction.”

Ilya Gutlin, Regional Vice-President, East and Central Europe, added: “The growth rate which Moscow Domodedovo International Airport is experiencing is remarkable, and by adopting SITA’s self-service and common use systems, the airport will be in a position not only to handle more passengers but to do so in a cost-effective manner.

“By the middle of 2008, 12 self-service kiosks will be available to passengers and 327 check-in positions will be using AirportConnect Open which allows airlines to use common-use, proprietary and web applications making it a cost efficient and easy to use system.”

AirportConnect Open is SITA's latest generation IATA CUTE-compliant common use passenger processing system that supports CUTE, proprietary and web applications on common use check-in and boarding gate workstations, with shared peripherals.

Ilya Gutlin commented: “By providing all the airlines that use the airport the opportunity to use the latest technologies of e-ticketing, self-service and web check-in without the need for significant investment on their part, Moscow Domodedovo International is leading the development of the air transport industry in Russia and Eastern Europe.”

Domodedovo Moscow International Airport has 76 partner airlines, including 31 Russian, 30 foreign and 15 air carriers from the CIS countries, which fly to more than 220 destinations in Russia and world-wide. The airport is undergoing major expansion; by 2012 the new T2 terminal will be completed, this will increase the airport's capacity by 6 million passengers per year.