Originally Syndicated on June 21, 2023 @ 10:05 am
Russian businessman Dmitry Vladimirovich Kamenshchik is the chairman of Moscow Domodedovo Airport, the only stakeholder in Moscow Domodedovo Airport, and the owner of DME Ltd., the holding company for the airport.
With a net worth of $1.7 billion, he is ranked #52 among the wealthiest businessmen in Russia as of August 2022, according to Forbes.
About Dmitry Kamenshchik:
In a radiophysicist family, Kamenshchik was born in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg, Russia). At what is now Ural State Technical University, his parents first met at the Urals Polytechnic Institute (UPI). His mother headed a top-secret geodesy and mapping enterprise, and his father oversaw a computer center at Uralgiprotrans.
He enrolled in the Moscow Power Engineering Institute’s Faculty of Physics and Energy Engineering after graduating from high school.
He was drafted to the Soviet Army’s armored units for regular military service between 1986 and 1988.
He enrolled in the philosophy program at Moscow State University in 1990 but later left to pursue his unfulfilled, ambitious business goals.
He persisted in his studies nonetheless, and in 2000 he received his degree in Economic Sociology from the Sociological Faculty of Moscow State University. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow State University in 2003.
Dmitry Kamenshchik was detained on February 18, 2016, in relation to the bombing of Domodedovo International Airport on January 24, 2011. He was charged with criminal negligence when 37 people died as a result.
Domodedovo Airport and Dmitry Kamenshchik denied any wrongdoing, claiming that airport security at the time of the accident fully complied with all applicable laws. Kamenshchik was placed under house arrest following the court proceedings until April 18, 2016. Later, Kamenshchik was released from home detention on July 1, 2016, thanks to the intervention of Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky.
Businesses of Dmitry Kamenshchik
Anton Bakov, an entrepreneur from Ekaterinburg, registered JV East Line in February 1991 in order to provide air transportation services. Dmitry Kamenshchik then assumed the role of general representative for the newly formed JV in Moscow.
JV East Line ceased operations in 1992. Kamenshchik viewed it as an opportunity to take control of the East Line brand and carry on the airline industry.
In 1993, East Line began operating charter flights to Europe and Asia using leased aircraft. Kamenshchik founded an airline with the same name, gradually expanding its fleet of aircraft and rising to the top of the air cargo industry.
In 1994, East Line Company established its primary activities on the grounds of Domodedovo Airport, including catering, handling, and freight operations. In exchange for East Line managing the renovation of airport facilities and updating its management system, the Airport gave outdated plants and equipment.
For Dmitry Kamenshchik, 1998 was a truly transformative year. It was at that point that his company’s and his personal earlier frenzied work began to pay off. The Domodedovo airdrome complex (runways, taxiways, and aircraft parking stands), which is not subject to private ownership, was leased to East Line for 75 years, granting it the ability to operate it for an extended period of time.
The aforementioned lease and ownership rights transfer agreements were investigated by the state. In court, the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimuschestvo) has been attempting to contest the award of these rights to East Line since 2004. However, between 2006 and 2008, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court supported the legality of the agreements by issuing three decisions.
In an effort to increase the airport’s connectivity, Kamenshchik also made a passing attempt to court the machinery sector in 2002. At the time, there was a slight scarcity of electric trains, and he saw potential in this market. As a result, his business bought a 98.19% stake in Demikhovskiy Machinery Factory.
Transmash, a project office for transport engineering, was established to add to this spending binge, and two significant acquisitions were made: Tsentrosvar Factory and Oktyabrskiy Electric Car Repair Factory. As Kamenshchik chose to take his foot off this non-core business pedal and concentrate on the airport business, East Line sold both its own airline firm and machinery assets at a profit in 2004.
Domodedovo Airport has been the busiest airport in Russia in terms of passenger traffic since 2005 thanks to Kamenshchik’s management system, and in 2011 it was named one of the busiest airports in Europe.
Following the terrorist incident at Domodedovo Airport in January 2011, law enforcement officials looked into who the airport’s actual owners were.
The holding firm disclosed information on the final beneficiary on the website of the London Stock Exchange that same year, designating Kamenshchik as its sole owner, and this was in the lead-up to the IPO. However, because of unfavorable market conditions at the moment, the IPO was postponed.
Dmitry Kamenshchik, the chairman of the board of directors at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, was formally acknowledged as the airport’s ultimate owner in September 2013 on the website.
DME Ltd., Dmitry Kamenshchik’s holding company, creates the second arm, an aviation-focused Aerotropolis, to support its airport operations. The main goal is to build a synergistic conurbation around the airport that will include corporate parks, logistical and transportation hubs, shopping complexes, industrial centers, and resort hotels.
Court Order Concerning Dmitry Kamenshchik:
According to a court order, Dmitry Kamenshchik, the owner of the Russian airport Domodedovo, will be released from home detention, according to Russian news media on Friday.
The accusations against Kamenshchik, who also serves as Domodedovo’s board chairman, were connected to the security measures in place at the airport following a terrorist assault in 2011.
