Turkish construction giant Rönesans favorite bidder for largest Russian airport

A Reuters news report claimed that according to an announcement made by Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, the tender for Terminal B, which will cost around $630 million and be built on 107,000 square meters, was awarded to Rönesans İnşaat, a Turkish company. However, according to an announcement made by the company, the bidding process is still ongoing; thus, it is not yet clear which company won the tender.

Shremetyevo International Airport is the largest airport in Russia and has a passenger capacity of 31 million and after the completion of the project this capacity is expected to increase to 50 million passengers. Rönesans İnşaat has been active in Russia for over 20 years and in 2014, the turnover of the company in Russia was around 64 billion Rubles ($950 million).

Meanwhile, in January, two companies with Turkish partners or capital reached the final stage of the bidding to enlarge Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, despite economic sanctions imposed by Russia on Turkey following the downing of the Su-24 jet. The Limak-Marashstroy and Renaissance companies were announced as having reached the final stage in the bidding process by Mihail Vasilenko, the airport's general manager.

The applications of these two Turkish companies to bid for the project were accepted as allowances against the sanctions that have been made in fields where Russian firms cannot compete. Vasilenko said the companies were registered in Russia, therefore there are no legal obstacles against them bidding for the $630 million airport enlargement contract, which includes building a second terminal along with connection tunnels.

Located 29 kilometers northwest of Moscow, Sheremetyevo is one of the three airports that serve the Russian capital, along with the Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports. As of 2009, the airport reached an annual capacity of 14.7 million passengers and in 2015, the airport handled 158,606 flights. The airport is the second largest international airport in Russia, with flights reaching more than 300 destinations.