From 1986 to 1988 he was drafted to the regular military Service in armored forces of Soviet Army.
In 1990 he entered the philosophy faculty of the Moscow State University, but later decided to leave to embark on his unsatisfied ambitious Business plans. However, he did not give up studying; in 2000 he graduated from the Sociological Faculty of the Moscow State University with a major in Economic Sociology. In 2003 he received a PhD degree in Economics from Moscow State University.
In February 1991 a businessman from Ekaterinburg Anton Bakov registered JV East Line to engage in air transportation services. That is when Dmitry Kamenshchik, with his academic aspirations set temporarily aside in favour of Business, became the general representative of the newly created JV in Moscow.
In 1992 JV East Line stopped operating. Kamenshchik saw it as a chance to become East Line brand owner and continue the air transportation Business.
Starting from 1993 East Line leased aircraft and launched charter flights to Europe and Asia. Kamenshchik created a similarly-named airline progressively beefing up its own aircraft fleet and making it to the Leaders of air cargo market.
In 1994 East Line company set up its core Business at the premises of Domodedovo Airport: catering Service, cargo operations, handling, etc. In a quid-pro-quo arrangement the Airport provided outworn plant and equipment, whereas East Line ran reconstruction of airport facilities and revamped its management system.
The year 1998 was a true game-changer for Kamenshchik. It was when all the previous frenetic activity started paying off for his company - and him personally. East Line managed to strike a 75-year Lease for the Domodedovo airdrome complex not subject to private ownership (runways, taxiways, aircraft parking stands), thus getting the right to operate it on a long-term basis. By bringing more money to the table from its coffers in a series of much-needed Investments, the company also completed the transfer of the title to the airport’s Business assets. In the same year Kamenshchik became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Moscow Domodedovo Airport.
The above deals for the transfer of lease and ownership rights were subject to state scrutiny. Since 2004 the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimuschestvo) tried to challenge the granting of such rights to East Line at court, but in 2006-2008 the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court upheld the legitimacy of the deals by three rulings.
The analysis of public data on the transactions involving purchase of the airport controlling stakes in the last three years (Tolmachevo in 2011, Edinburgh in 2012, and Stansted in 2013) suggests that the EV/LTM EBITDA average multiplier came to a factor of 17.2. Application of this multiplier to Domodedovo leads to an estimated value of the airport at approx. USD 7.5 billion.
In September 2013 it was officially announced on the Airport’s website that the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Moscow Domodedovo Airport Dmitry Kamenshchik was its ultimate owner.
On 18 February 2016 Kamenshchik was arrested in connection with the Domodedovo International Airport bombing of 24 January 2011. He was accused of Criminal negligence, causing the death of 37 people. Kamenshchik and Domodedovo Airport denied any wrongdoing, stating that the airport security at the time of the accident fully complied with the legal requirements of that time. After the court hearings, Kamenshchik was put under house arrest until 18 April 2016. He was forbidden to leave his house, communicate with anybody except the investigators and relatives, and to use mail, internet or email. Later, on 1 July 2016, due to the intervention of Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky, Kamenshchik was released from house arrest.
Probably, the 27,000 ha of the land surrounding the airport belong to Domodedovo’s affiliates. The market value 1 ha in districts adjacent to the airport ranges from USD 35,000 to USD 900,000 depending on the functional purpose. There are no sources mentioning any other businesses controlled by Kamenshchik in Russia or abroad.
