Aviatsiya From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1867 times:
It has been announced that British Airways will be transferring their Moscow operations from SVO to DME from 1 July 2003.
BA had studied the move since June 2002, and their R.M. for Russia said that SVO doesn't fulfill their needs, or passenger needs. They even went so far as to take some of their passengers out to DME to get their perception of the airport, and 9 out of 10 pax said that DME was a much better facility based upon passengers wants and needs.
The BA manager said on the airlines relationship with SVO...."was like a marriage with Sheremetyevo, but it is now time to divorce. The divorce process can be good or bad. We will try to do it in civilized way."
It is rumoured that a major part of the move away from SVO, is that SVO was unable to give BA a morning slot; a slot which undoubtedly DME would have provided as part of the sweetener to the deal. Other things given to BA by DME include dedicated check-in facilities, fast track immigration counters for the excluse use of BA, customs and security channels, and also gates close to the terminal. After the move, BA will open up a 250 square metre Club Europe and Executive Club Lounge, but will use DME lounges until their own facility is open. BA pax will also be able to check-in at Paveletsky Station in central Moscow, and proceed to DME on the hourly express train.
This is obviously great news for East Line and Domodedovo Airport negotiators and management. P7 is also saying that other airlines (which will be first timers into Moscow) are also expected to announce services to DME soon.
From that article, one thing I had to look at twice is this:
"Even Sheremetyevo’s all weather classification, which Domodedovo does not have, was not considered by Bukard to be important, as he pointed out that weather had never led to a diversion of the airline’s flights to another Moscow airport."
Is it just me, or do other people see how it doesn't make sense? If BA operate into SVO, then why would they ever have to divert to another Moscow airport such as DME, VKO, or even BKA, when SVO is a Category III airport, and as such, diversions would be unnecessary. It will be interesting, however, when DME is shut down for flights during the next Moscow winter (as it was for a day or two this winter just gone), to see what contigency plans BA has in place to handle this situation.
Tu144d From United States of America, joined Apr 2002, 198 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1822 times:
This is good news. Domodedovo is light years ahead of Sheremetyevo. By the way, does anyone know how many jet bridges Domodedovo has?
And DME will be the only airport in Russia to have this certification, which is just another thing they can use in marketing the airport to carriers (especially those currently based at SVO).
Aussiestu From Australia, joined Mar 2001, 778 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1589 times:
So they may have to divert once or twice a year????? Not a major obstacle when you consider that DMO is a better airport from a passenger point of view and perhaps when the flight does divert they will understand why? If one airport can provide a better service to any airline then that is where that airline will operate too. Perhaps its time for SVO to update and win airlines and pax. back. We shall wait and see!
Dexter From Austria, joined Jul 2000, 261 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1478 times:
Aviatsiya,
There was an article about DME / UUDD), Russia">DME in a German civil aviation mag (Aero International) a few months ago. It mentioned that due to its geographical location DME / UUDD), Russia">DME (unlike SVO / UUEE), Russia">SVO) never experiences thick fog, which is the reason they don't upgrade to Cat III. The point is they don't even need it. If DME / UUDD), Russia">DME does shut down, it's caused by heavy snowfall, where Cat III wouldn't help anyway.
Tu144d,
According to the same article, they will have 2 concourses with 20 jet bridges by this summer.
Standby87 From Switzerland, joined Jul 2001, 535 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 1311 times:
It was Swissair who led the way with the move to DME! And there was a good article about this recently in ATW. A friend was on the inaugural flight to DME, very impressed he was - compared to facilities at SVO.
Aviatsiya From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 3 days ago) and read 1197 times:
ATW's article would not be correct. Transaero is the airline which led the way in changing their base to DME (from SVO). This occurred on 24 April 2001.
But if you wanted to discount Russian carriers, which in this case you can't because Transaero operations in Moscow far outweigh that of Swissair at the time (and still do), then still the honour of "leading the way" wouldn't go to Swissair, but to Air Malta, which announced in very early April 2001, that their weekly flight (plus another 2 weekly during the tourist season) to MOW would use DME instead of SVO.
Swissair operations into DME didn't start operations into DME until 28 October 2001.
There are no prizes for third place in this regard
Luzezito From Spain, joined May 2001, 268 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1177 times:
I am ready to face diversions or cancellations once or twice a year into DME before it becomes CATIII. This is not a defection, this is an airline taking advantage of a developping market that for the first time offers a competition between two airports in the same city, namely a shameful state-owned behemot and a modern customer-oriented alternative. I would not be surprised to see DME become MOW's main apt and SVO relegated for charter flights in 5-10 years time.
Ba319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8264 posts, RR: 56 Reply 10, posted (10 years 2 months 2 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1121 times:
As many other carriers have started moving to DME it was only a matter of time before BA joined.
This is very good news for BA passengers,Exec Club pax in particular will benefit when the new Lounge opens.
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