Sheremetyevo International Airport

Sheremetyevo International Airport (Russian: Международный Аэропорт Шеремéтьево; IPA: [ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə]) (IATA: SVO, ICAO: UUEE) is an international airport located in Khimki, Moscow Oblast, Russia, 29 km (18 mi) northwest of central Moscow. It is a hub for passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and is one of the three major airports that serve Moscow, along with Domodedovo International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport (the IATA city code for Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo is MOW). In 2015, the airport handled 31,612,000 passengers and 265,040 aircraft movements, making the airport currently largest airport in Russia since 2015.

History

The airport was originally built as a military object called Sheremetyevsky (Russian: Шереметьевский) named after a settlement with the same name. The decree about the construction of the Central Airdrome of the Air Force near the settlement of Chashnikovo (Russian: Чашниково) on the outskirts of Moscow was issued on September 1, 1953 by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The airport became operational on October 7, 1957 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution.