Vnukovo invest move in on Domodedovo

Vnukovo-Invest, a co-owner of Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, is ready to invest 27 billion rubles ($893.1 million) in construction of a second runway at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, and wants to establish joint management of Domodedovo with the current operator, Kommersant business daily reported on Friday. The Russian government plans to attract private investors to co-finance construction of a second runway at Domodedovo as state funding commitments to it only amount to 15 billion rubles ($496.2 million). Russia's Transport Ministry proposed a project concerning co-financing of Domodedovo in late April, but has not yet received an answer. Domodedovo is looking at alternative public-private funding arrangements, but says questions still remain about the Transport Ministry's proposed project. "Domodedovo airport is ready to examine any possible legal ways to facilitate a private-public partnership under the non-discriminatory approach to all Moscow airports. [The project] does not answer several basic questions: who will own [the strip] after construction and how it will be used," the Domodedovo press-service told the paper. Vnukovo-Invest wants to acquire land near Domodedovo for a passenger terminal and a fuel complex in order to cover outlay towards the second Domodedovo runway after completion, the company said in a letter to the Transport Ministry obtained by the paper. This would have the effect of creating a second airport operator at Domodedovo. The Vnukovo-Invest proposal comes as the Russian government is reviving a plan to unify the three Moscow airports, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, into one air hub and gain control over it. The Transport Ministry told the paper it was working out plans for a united management for the three airports.