Drones On The Runway: Moscow Airports Closed
- 24.10.2026, 14:49
Hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled following drone attacks.
At airports in the Moscow metropolitan area, once again flights are being massively delayed or canceled amid ongoing Ukrainian drone raids. According to estimates by “Ostorozhno, Novosti”, as of noon on Saturday, the disruptions had affected more than 210 flights. The channel notes that schedule disruptions mainly affected Sheremetyevo Airport, where 65 departing flights and 106 arriving flights were delayed or canceled.
Vnukovo ranked second in terms of flight disruptions. There, a total of about 40 flights were rescheduled or canceled. Domodedovo also experienced problems—the airport’s website homepage was once again inaccessible, and the online departure boards and other services, except for ticket purchases, were not working. One flight was canceled and 25 were delayed at the airport, according to “Echo,” citing data from Flightradar.
Passengers told “Ostrozhno, Novosti” that at Sheremetyevo, starting at least at 6 a.m., “no planes are taking off at all—only reschedulings and cancellations.” According to the passengers, there were no official notifications about the airports being closed. “International flights, as I understand it, are being allowed to depart, but domestic ones are not,” the passengers said. Repeated delays have affected passengers on flights to Sochi; people are complaining about the lack of clear information and difficulties in getting food at Sheremetyevo.
There were also problems with a flight from Antalya to Moscow, which was rerouted to Yekaterinburg. According to passengers, the departure to Vnukovo was first rescheduled for October 25, then set for 12:40 p.m., and subsequently delayed again.
The day before, authorities had closed Moscow’s airports several times throughout the day due to a drone threat. By 8:00 a.m., the latest restrictions had been lifted at Domodedovo and Vnukovo.
On Saturday afternoon, Sheremetyevo’s press office reported that the airport was operating “on an adjusted schedule” due to restrictions on “the use of airspace in several regions of Russia.” “There are delayed and canceled flights,” the statement said.
The day before, the airport had declared an “air alert” due to the threat of a drone attack and evacuated passengers, while footage allegedly showing the wreckage of a drone that had crashed onto the runway appeared on social media.