Moscow’s airports and airlines are returning to normal operation, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) said. Last weekend, the Moscow Region was coated by freezing rain which hampered the operation of the city’s major airports.
Moscow’s airports and airlines are returning to normal operation, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) said. Last weekend, the Moscow Region was coated by freezing rain which hampered the operation of the city’s major airports.
The Association of Russian Tourist Operators said the delays affected over 20,000 people. Aeroflot, S7 and Transaero airlines began to resume scheduled services only on Tuesday after taking drastic action.
In an effort to stabilize scheduled operations, Aeroflot, Sheremetyevo’s main user, was forced to cancel almost 200 flights to such Russian cities as St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Samara, Krasnodar and Yekaterinburg, which can be reached by rail, as well as to Berlin, London and New York. Aeroflot and Scandinavian Airlines combined several flights to Copenhagen. Several more combined flights operated to Naryan-Mar in the Nenets Autonomous Area and Murmansk.
There were more people than usual at Aeroflot’s D terminal. There were no vacant seats in the waiting room on Wednesday, with people crowding into the cafes. Many of them, primarily young people, sat on the floor.
Aeroflot has now resumed its regular short-haul flights and plans to resume its normal schedule on Thursday.
Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev said flights had been mostly cancelled due to the lack of de-icing fluid.
Domodedovo airport had 171 flights on Thursday from 12.00 a.m. until 8.00 a.m. Moscow time, with Sheremetyevo handling another 157 flights, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.
