Skype can now indeed reach for the skies – all thanks to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Starting from November 16, passengers can use the internet video-calling service to check-in. All they have to do is to call svo_checkin and follow the officer’s instructions. In the process of registration, passengers are asked to show their passports and to tell the officer the date of the flight and the number of their e-tickets.

The service is not available to those flying with animals, arms, or ammunition, nor to under-aged children flying without an accompanying adult.

The idea came to the airport’s staff after Russians did not appreciate the convenience of online registration. The lack of human contact involved in online check-in made people uneasy, as it did not feel like a concrete process. Checking-in at the airport, meanwhile, remained carnage.

Skype check-in solves both of these problems.

“When we introduced online check-in, passengers were complaining that they were afraid of doing something wrong,” said the head of Sheremetyevo passenger transfers, Ivan Nikulin. “Skype calls involve direct human contact – this will help eliminate that fear.”

Sheremetyevo is the first airport to roll out the new service – no sky hub in the world has ever tried such a technology.

It is hoped that before long, 15 to 20 per cent of passengers will check-in via Skype, easing congestion throughout the airport.

Around 20 airlines support the scheme.

­Moscow rolls out Skype competitor

Meanwhile, Moscow’s authorities have offered residents and expats an alternative to Skype’s free calls.

Free public phone-boxes are being rolled-out in the north of the capital. The first of a planned 150 went operational on November 16. Not only are they free (allowing a one-hour conversation per person), they are also wheelchair friendly.

If the pilot-project is a success, it will be implemented in all of Moscow's districts. Around 100-200 booths will function in each of them.