The opening ceremony of the cargo complex was attended by the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Evgeny Dietrich, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, representatives of customs and border guards.

The ZIA CARGO logistics complex includes a modern cargo terminal with an area of ​​9,200 meters with a temporary storage warehouse, customs infrastructure, storage areas for valuable, dangerous, heat-sensitive goods and live animals, and an aircraft platform with an area of ​​90,000 square meters, which can simultaneously accommodate 4 wide-body cargo aircraft.

The base carrier will be the Sky Gates cargo airline, which is one of the key international freight carriers on the China-Russia-Europe route. This is an extremely promising segment, which is significantly influenced by the growth of the e-commerce market.

The operator of the logistics complex is ZIA CARGO. It was established by the airport management company of Ramport Aero JSC (51% of the shares), as well as VIP Aviation Company and private investors from the Azerbaijan Republic (49% of the shares).

In the first half of 2020, despite the pandemic, Zhukovsky Airport became one of the logistics centers for domestic and international circulation of medical supplies. In addition to ensuring continuous commodity exchange along the routes China - Russia - Europe, ZIA CARGO became a partner of Ural Airlines, providing support in obtaining permits for cargo transportation on passenger aircraft.

For the first half of 2020, 410 take-off and landing operations of cargo aircraft were carried out in Zhukovsky. By the end of the year, their number will increase to 930 - 950. Next year, it is planned to reach the indicator of 1100 - 1200. The existing infrastructure is quite enough to implement these plans.

Ramenskoye airdrome has its own dedicated airspace, so there should be no problems with throughput. Speaking of the close proximity to the Gromov Flight Research Institute and the sharing of infrastructure, we note that, according to the regulations, the hours for test and commercial flights are divided.

  “With the commissioning of a new cargo terminal and apron, the airport will be able to serve simultaneously up to 4 large cargo aircraft of the Boeing 747 type or up to 6 medium transport aircraft. This takes the logistics capacity of the Zhukovsky airport to a new level: the current infrastructure will allow handling up to 100 thousand tons of cargo per year. Moreover, there is already a plan on how to double this indicator - up to 200 thousand tons. Thus, Zhukovsky becomes one of the largest hubs in the Moscow region, and its territorial location will increase the speed of processing and delivery of goods to the customer. The start of the full-fledged work of the Zhukovsky logistics complex is a significant event not only for the airport, but also for the Moscow region. This will ensure an influx of investments and the creation of new jobs in the southern and southeastern regions of the Moscow Region,”— said Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec.

All this creates the conditions for the implementation of the hub development model. Sky Gates is Russia's second largest Boeing 747-400/F aircraft operator. The airline plans to use the airport as a hub for international operations. The hub model implies that cargoes on long-haul wide-body vessels arrive at the airport and are sorted for further delivery to the cities of Russia and Europe on medium and short-haul aircraft of other partner airlines. As part of the event, Zhukovsky received the first Sky Gates flight from Baku.

In 2020, ZIA CARGO plans to serve 12,000 tons of cargo. With the advent of Sky Gates, this is an achievable indicator.

In 2025, the operator of the complex plans to reach full design capacity - 100 thousand tons of cargo. It focuses on the development of cooperation with Eastern countries and is now preparing to open representative offices in China and Southeast Asia. In addition, it is also planned to involve companies specialising in the delivery of orders from online stores.

The total cost of the project, including the construction of the terminal and apron, as well as their technical equipment, amounted to 37 million US dollars. The work was carried out at the expense of the own funds of the enterprise and the shareholders of ZIA CARGO, without attracting public investment.

“The creation of ZIA CARGO is a confirmation of the strengthening of economic ties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is safe to say that the opening of the cargo complex was an extremely timely step - even under the current restrictions, ZIA CARGO is a commercially effective airport division, increasing operations and attracting new aviation partners. Today, almost all Russian cargo airlines have already been included in their number. The commissioning of a separate platform and the emergence of a base carrier will allow us to significantly accelerate the development of the enterprise, ”— commented Boris Alyoshin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ramport Aero JSC.

Despite the fact that the commissioning of the terminal and the start of the flight program took the most difficult time for air transport, the first month of work brought positive results: more than 50 charter flights were served at the terminal, about 1300 tons of cargo were handled.

For customs operations in Zhukovsky, the Electronic Declaration Center is used. This is a fairly new and important mechanism in the field of customs clearance. Electronic document management has significantly reduced the processing time of goods. For the design of certain categories and large parties several years ago, it took three to four days, today - from one to four hours. The high processing speed allows, in particular, to serve a larger volume of goods in a smaller area.

Cargo will be transported in the traditional way for logistics operators: as a rule, the consignor or consignee provides the necessary vehicles. If necessary, ZIA CARGO can provide transportation services to customers. As a promising step, the option of creating your own auto-truck company is being considered.

“Today the state pays close attention to the development of the logistics system, including taking into account the consequences of the spread of coronavirus infection. The development of this direction provides tangible benefits for exporters in terms of reducing transportation costs, building more efficient supply chains, which creates a more competitive price for Russian products on the international market. In the context of the pandemic, as well as to mitigate the concomitant negative consequences from its spread, the Government is working to modernise the mechanisms for supporting exporters provided for by the national project “International Cooperation and Export”. So, within the framework of the program for compensating the logistic costs of exporters, the Russian Export Center for this year preliminary approved 341 applications for subsidies. The selection for the conclusion of subsidiary agreements will begin on August 1, 2020, currently the amount of funding for 2020 is 13 billion rubles and 10 billion rubles for 2021-2022, ”— said the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

According to Rostec, the volume of investments in Zhukovsky Airport for the period from 2015 to 2020. is more than $ 140 million (stage 1). This amount includes the costs of construction and technical equipment of passenger and cargo terminals, the construction and reconstruction of aprons, the purchase of equipment for the organisation of ground handling of aircraft. Of this amount, $20 million was invested by shareholders in the creation and development of Sky Gates, and $37 million in the creation of a cargo cluster.

At the second stage of development of the passenger sector - in 2021-2023 - in Zhukovsky, the passenger terminal will be significantly expanded, the area of ​​which will increase from up to 47 thousand square meters (today 17 thousand square meters) (investment - $100 million). An additional 50 thousand square meters will appear of apron space (investment - $ 10 million), a center for maintenance and repair of aircraft will be built in conjunction with Ural Airlines. The updated infrastructure will allow serving up to 7 million passengers a year. Also, in 2022-2024 $30 million will be directed to the development of the cargo direction. Thus, additional investments in the project will amount to about $140 million (stage 2).