Passengers stuck on planes for hours as Russian airlines cancel and delay dozens of flights amid Ukrainian drone attacks

On Tuesday night, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport twice suspended all flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. Other major airports imposed similar restrictions, resulting in some travelers spending hours stuck on planes after landing at their destinations. The chaos appeared likely to continue on Wednesday, with Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, issuing a statement warning passengers about possible upcoming cancellations and changes. Here’s how the situation has unfolded so far.

Russia’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, warned passengers on Wednesday of possible flight cancellations or consolidations due to temporary overnight airspace restrictions at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The previous night, Sheremetyevo suspended all arrivals and departures twice in response to a potential Ukrainian drone threat. The restrictions were in effect from 1:00 to 4:07 a.m. Moscow time, and again from 4:25 to 5:30 a.m. As a result, numerous Aeroflot flights were delayed or diverted to alternate airports. Similar restrictions were imposed at other Moscow airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky.

Aeroflot said that “some flights may be subject to forced cancellations or consolidation” and advised travelers to check the departures board on its website for updates.

Update: Moscow’s Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, Vnukovo, and Sheremetyevo airports temporarily grounded flights at various times throughout the evening on Wednesday. Around 10:30 p.m. local time, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency reported that the Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, and Vnukovo airports had lifted restrictions, but Sheremetyevo didn’t resume flights until 11:25 p.m. Earlier in the evening, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that Russian air defenses had shot down seven Ukrainian drones headed towards the capital in the space of half an hour.

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Rossiya Airlines, a member of the Aeroflot Group, issued a similar statement. It said that due to restrictions at Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Nizhny Novgorod airports, some flights would be delayed or rerouted, and warned of possible cancellations or consolidations.

According to Aeroflot’s online schedule, the airline canceled 52 outbound flights and 54 arrivals in Moscow on Wednesday, state media reported. A total of more than 140 flights to and from the capital were delayed. Affected flights included Aeroflot departures from Sheremetyevo and Rossiya flights from Vnukovo.

Pobeda Airlines, Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary, also reported that it was “forced to cancel some flights on May 6 and 7” due to the restrictions. The airline warned passengers to expect delays and potential rerouting to alternate airfields.

The Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Moskva reported long lines at Sheremetyevo’s information desks on Wednesday, as passengers sought updates and attempted to rebook their flights or get a refund. At Vnukovo, dozens of flights were rescheduled and around 50 were canceled. The channel noted that some travelers had been waiting since Tuesday, spending hours in the terminal. “People are sleeping in decorative areas of the airport and sitting on their suitcases in line,” one post read.

Several inbound flights were diverted to Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. According to the Telegram channel Baza, passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Domodedovo were held on the plane for six hours after landing in Pulkovo before being told they would need to make their own way to Moscow. Travelers on a flight from Antalya to Moscow told Ostorozhno, Novosti that they had waited more than seven hours on board after arriving in St. Petersburg. Baza also reported that passengers on Uzbekistan Airways’s Tashkent–Moscow flight and Aeroflot’s Chelyabinsk–Moscow flight, both diverted to Pulkovo, spent the night aboard their planes.

Additionally, Baza wrote that an Aeroflot flight from Dubai to Sheremetyevo was diverted to Kazan. According to passengers, the captain announced mid-flight that the diversion was due to the activation of the “Kovyor” emergency protocol — a procedure for when an unidentified object is detected in the air — at Sheremetyevo and that the plane would land in Kazan to refuel. After landing, the aircraft remained on the tarmac for two hours. The captain later told passengers they would be taken to a hotel “for an indefinite period,” but eyewitnesses said they were ultimately left in the airport’s waiting area.

According to the Northwestern Transport Prosecutor’s Office, 74 aircraft were diverted to Pulkovo.

Between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin issued several statements saying that Ukrainian drone attacks on the capital had been repelled. In addition to the Moscow airports, overnight restrictions were also imposed at airports in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, and Kirov. Ukrainian drones also targeted the Mordovia, Tula, and Yaroslavl regions overnight.

Russia’s Association of Tour Operators reported on Wednesday that the delays and closures had so far affected at least 350 flights and altered the plans of approximately 60,000 passengers, including many on popular connecting routes through Istanbul and Dubai.