Sheremetyevo Airport’s COVID-19 safety measures undergo inspection

Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) welcomed the Minister of Transportation for the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Dietrich, who conducted an inspection to determine the airport’s readiness to resume air operations following the introduction of safety measures necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The comprehensive phased inspection focused on the terminal infrastructure and the measures of protection that have been put in place against the spread of COVID-19.

Sheremetyevo Airport has retained production resources for the prompt resumption of full-scale operational activities. The airdrome is fully prepared for the start of regular transportation with a capacity of 80 take-off and landing operations per hour, which is enough to ensure the predicted volume of passenger traffic.

Special care is being taken at the airport to organise passenger traffic in ways that ensure the safety and health of travellers, guests and employees. The following measures have been introduced:

• Terminal F has been allocated for serving passengers arriving from countries with unfavourable epidemiological conditions
• Workplaces have been set up in the baggage claim hall of Sheremetyevo’s Terminal F for medical personnel of the Moscow Department of Health, the Ministry of Health for Moscow region, Rospotrebnadzor and the Medical Unit of SVO JSC
• Two teams of the Territorial Center for Emergency Medicine for the Moscow region are constantly on duty at the airport
• Sheremetyevo’s terminals have isolation wards with a separate entrance from the platform, eliminating the possibility that healthy and infected passengers will come into contact with each other
• Periodic checks of the operability of the ventilation system and continuous disinfection of all rooms are being undertaken 
• Automatic non-contact hand disinfectors have been installed in the bathrooms of all airport terminals, with all sanitary devices being touch-sensitive and touch-free
• Masks, gloves and antiseptics in pharmacies and vending machines throughout the airport are available for purchase
• Testing of personnel for COVID-19 has been arranged in accordance with the requirements of the Chief State Sanitary Physician for the Russian Federation
• Over two million medical masks have been purchased for staff
• Staff have been provided with personal protective equipment (anti-plague suits, gloves, disinfectants) in sufficient quantities.

In areas of Sheremetyevo Airport where services are provided for passengers and personnel – such as check-in counters, entrance groups, pre-flight security checkpoints and boarding gates – there are markings on the floor to ensure a social distance of 1.5m, and the airport is regularly providing information to visitors through various communication channels about the rules of conduct during the pandemic.

In addition, a full-scale thermometry system for passengers and personnel is in use: 23 thermal imaging cameras at the airport are being used to identify potential patients with coronavirus infection; before starting work, each member of staff undergoes mandatory measurement of body temperature in 10 specialised health centres; and body temperature measurements are taken during the treatment of passengers and employees using stationary, portable thermo-vision cameras, as well as at the health centres of the terminals and the clinic of the Medical Unit of SVO JSC.

Sheremetyevo Airport has said that it will continue to implement all necessary measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, protecting the health of passengers and staff in strict compliance with the orders of the Russian government and authorised government agencies.