Airports Qatar Airways wants to acquire 25% of Moscow Vnukovo Airport

The Memorandum of Understanding for the deal was signed during a meeting of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Currently, the airport is owned by private investors and the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management. It was not clarified if Qatar Airways acquires shares from the state agency or from private investors.

Vnukovo Airport is one of the four major airports around Moscow. The airport with two runways is a hub for several Russian airlines: Gazpromavia, I-Fly, the Aeroflot low-cost subsidiary Pobeda, Rossija, RusLine and Utair. After Aeroflot acquired its former competitor Rossija in 2011, several Rossija flights are operated for Aeroflot, which makes Vnukovo Airport the second Aeroflot hub in Moscow.

 According to the airport’s website, it has handled over 18 million passengers in 2017. Vnukovo is the third largest airport in Moscow after Aeroflot’s hub Sheremetyevo International Airport (around 40 million passengers in 2017) and Moscow Domodedovo Airport (around 30 million passengers in 2017).

Qatar Airways is currently connecting Doha with Moscow Domodedovo Airport. A few years ago, the Gulf carrier has started investing in several projects like the IAG Group or the Italian carrier Meridiana.