OREANDA-NEWS. November 23, 2012. Moscow Domodedovo Airport hosted the 12th annual interline conference, DME Connections-2012, aimed to help develop transfer routes of its partner airlines. More than 110 representatives of Russian and foreign airlines and airports participatef in DME Connections this year, as well as the European Airports Council International (ACI Europe), Russia’s Transport Clearing House, and mass media were also present.

Ruslan Samitov, Regional Director for Ground Handling of airBaltic: “Participating in DME Connections helps airBaltic to develop a joint route network with the other carriers flying from Domodedovo and offer transit passengers a wider geography of destinations using a single through-ticket. This is vitally important, since airBaltic is mainly focused on transit passengers: about 80% of our passengers use connecting flights”.

By working together, carriers based at the same airport can increase their commercial load and expand route networks to become more competitive. Cooperation between airlines benefits transfer passengers, who can fly more comfortably while saving money: passengers can purchase a single through-ticket for better value than separate tickets and are guaranteed to have a successful journey even if they are late for the flight or if the flight is cancelled.

Vladimir Kamynin, Marketing Director of Moscow Domodedovo Airport: “Moscow Domodedovo Airport and the airlines are working together to ensure optimal conditions for registered transfer. The share of connecting flights in total amount of flights has increased by 4.7% during this year alone to reach 14.1%. The DME Connections interline conference is an efficient tool for meetings and negotiations that enable airlines to expand their route networks without additional spending and resources”.

Olivier Jankovec, General Director of ACI Europe, informed the participants of DME Connections-2012 about the global trends of air transport market development. He believes that industry evolution will be driven by the development of passenger traffic in such countries as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The key to the proper arrangement of connecting flights is the punctuality of air carriers. DME Connections-2012 lounged an award ceremony for Domodedovo’s punctuality competition between air carriers: for the first time in the whole five-year record of the competition the “Just in Time” award ceremony was held. The winners in the 8 categories, depending on flight frequency and passenger traffic, were: Transaero, Rossiya Airlines, Polet, Pskovavia, Lufthansa, SWISS, Emirates, and airBaltic.

Andrei Peret, Head of Transaero Flight Service: “We topped the nomination thanks to the joint efforts of all our employees and well-organized cooperation with Domodedovo airport”.

Oliver Schneider, Lufthansa's Director for Operations & Airport Services Russia & CIS: “Punctuality of the flight schedule depends on an efficient team work. We are grateful to our partner, Domodedovo airport, for highly efficient cooperation in our common work”.

The prize in the special nomination - for greatest overall contribution in the development of transfer business - was taken by S7 Airlines.

Boris Bukuev, General Representative of S7 Airlines at Domodedovo Airport: “This is our joint project with Domodedovo Airport and our joint success. S7 Airlines was able to increase its transfer passenger traffic thanks to modern technologies implemented at the airport. The development of transfer transportation is one of our business priorities”.

The DME Connections interline conference was initiated and organized by Moscow Domodedovo Airport and has been held since 2000. Over the period, the conference has become an international business site for negotiations, establishment and development of contacts between professional participants of the Russian, CIS, and international airline market.

Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest airport of Russia in terms of passenger traffic. In 2011, total passenger traffic of the airport amounted to 25,701,610 people which let Domodedovo to become the first Russian airport to join the category of the largest airports in Europe due to Airports Council International (ACI) classification. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the base airport in Russia for member airlines of two largest global airline alliances – oneworld and Star Alliance. For the third year in a row, Moscow Domodedovo Airport was on top of the list of the best airports in Eastern Europe in terms of the service quality, according to the annual survey by the independent research company Skytrax Research (UK).