Moscow Domodedovo – more passengers in September than all of Norway

Moscow Domodedovo had over two million passengers in September, meaning it had more passengers than Norway and almost twice as many as Switzerland.

Moscow Domodedovo had 2,038,000 passengers in September, according to European Airport Traffic Statistics.

This was down by ‘just’ 27.2% versus September 2019, a slight improvement on the -27.4% achieved in August, but the slowdown may be concerning as winter approaches.

Multiple European airports had one or more million passengers in September:

• Istanbul Airport (1,821,501)
• Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (1,790,348)
• St Petersburg (1,385,622)
• Paris CDG (1,354,986)
• Amsterdam (1,337,741)
• London Heathrow (1,256,617)
• Frankfurt (1,147,880)
• Paris Orly (1,048,576)

Showing how hard-hit countries continue to be as quarantines, lockdowns, and border restrictions change, Domodedovo had more passengers than multiple countries. 

These include almost twice as many passengers as Switzerland (1,065,202) and more than the Netherlands (1,542,453) and Norway (1,586,632).

Moscow Domodedovo’s September traffic was down by 27.2% YOY. Will the YOY gap increase again as winter comes? Source: European Airport Traffic Statistics.

Moscow Domodedovo: 1,000 flights, S7 with 60% 

Fast-forwarding to the week starting 23 November, Domodedovo will have dead-on 1,000 flights each way, OAG schedules data shows. This is based on the latest scheduling filing on 9 November.

With six in ten flights, S7 Airlines is by far Domodedovo’s top airline.  It is distantly followed by Ural Airlines with 10% and, in third, Nordavia with just 2%.

Read more: Moscow airports up by 28 million seats in last five years.

80% of Domodedovo’s flights will be domestic, significantly more than the 62% in the same week last year. International has been badly affected, as in many countries globally.

Many international routes have seen significant capacity cuts.  Minsk, for example, was due to have 48-weekly services with Belavia in this week, but now it is just three.   

Fergana, Ashgabat, Namangan, and Kulob – in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan – were all due to have seven weekly flights each – but now have zero.  

Simferopol will remain Domodedovo’s top international route.

St Petersburg and Sochi lead Domodedovo’s most-served list in the week starting 23 November 2020, with only one international route: Simferopol. Note that Russian carriers consider Simferopol to be domestic, but for this article international has been used. International or domestic, it’s a high-ranking destination.

89 destinations, with 57 domestic 

Moscow Domodedovo will have 89 destinations in this period, with 57 domestic. 

St Petersburg and Sochi are by far the top-two with 61 and 60 flights respectively. 

A number of routes will be just once-weekly, including the domestic links to Cherepovets and Plyarny (almost 4,000 kilometres away in Yakutia).  Internationally, the likes of Alicante, Barcelona, Casablanca, Larnaca, and Nice are all weekly.

At 5,599km, Blagoveshchensk, just across the river from Heihe, China, is its longest domestic route.  It is served 14-weekly, with half each by both S7 and Ural Airlines. The latter uses A320neos on the 8h 15m block (to Moscow).

Moscow Domodedovo’s network with at least 21 weekly flights in the week starting 23 November 2020.