Sheremetyevo Airport Completes Full Transition to Domestic Baggage Handling Software

Sheremetyevo Airport, Russia's largest international airport, has fully transitioned its baggage handling IT system to domestic software developed by Russian company Rexoft. The change, completed in June 2026, is part of broader import substitution efforts to reduce reliance on foreign technology in critical infrastructure. The system manages the transport of transfer baggage between the airport's five terminals via a specialized underground tunnel stretching over two kilometers beneath the runway. The software now handles over 20,000 pieces of baggage per day, with an average delivery time of seven minutes across the tunnel.

The transition was confirmed by Alexander Egorov, CEO of Rexoft, and Dmitry Ilyin, Deputy General Director for Information Technology at AO "MASH", the legal entity for the airport. The new system replaced five separate IT solutions from three foreign vendors, consolidating scheduling, resource management, information displays, baggage processing, and analytics into a single domestic platform. The entire IT infrastructure includes conveyor lines totaling over 29 kilometers in length, multiple sorting systems, and temporary storage facilities. Currently, three of the five terminals have been fully migrated, with the remaining two to follow, aiming for unified management across the entire airport.

While the exact cost of the project was not disclosed by the parties, expert estimates from Anastasia Bezrukova, a leading expert at the Center for Strategic Support of Domestic Technologies, place the value of such a turnkey project between 350 million and 700 million rubles. The implementation marks a first-of-its-kind domestic IT project among Russian airports, according to Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of the AviPort agency, who noted that Sheremetyevo is unique in Russia for the complexity of its IT infrastructure.

The shift addresses critical operational needs, as managing transfer baggage between terminal complexes is one of the most critical processes for airport operations. Until recently, the specialized equipment required for this task, including trains that run under the runway, was exclusively supplied by Western IT vendors. The new system also integrates with external IT systems and includes baggage management on industrial controllers, sorting management, and dispatching systems. The transition underscores Russia's push for self-sufficiency in high-stakes infrastructure sectors, reducing vulnerability during geopolitical tensions.