"The state is still undecided as to whether company Alfa-Sheremetyevo that won the tender for the management of the airport earlier this year will be effectively in charge," he said.
On January 28, 2004 the Board of Directors of OAO Mezhdunarodny Aeroport Sheremetyevo (Sheremetyevo International Airport) declared OAO Alfa-Sheremetyevo winner of the airport management tender.
Although Alfa has surely won the tender, the official position of the state that owns the controlling stake in the airport has not yet been announced.
"In late May to early June, having considered the parties' offers, we will come up with our decision as to the management of the Sheremetyevo's terminals," Transportation Minister Igor Levitin told RIA Novosti.
According to him, "the decision will favor passengers in the first place - we do not want the terminals to compete with one another." Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov is also expected to air his view of the dispute.
The side disputing Alfa-Sheremetyevo's winner's rights is Russian International Airlines Aeroflot, a company with an extensive experience of international operations. Aeroflot plans to build a separate Sheremetyevo 3 terminal without any management company and wants to be part of the airport's modernization program.
Sheremetyevo accounts for about 60 % of Moscow's air traffic. The airport has always been the largest and the most important air gate of this country.
Currently Sheremetyevo operates with over 100 world's largest scheduled, charter, and business carriers, and is the base of the largest Russian carrier Aeroflot.
From January to April of the current year passenger traffic through Sheremetyevo has amounted to 3,392,000, which is by 13.2 % more than the year before.
