Moscow airport delays are piling up again. Drones heading for the Russian capital forced flight restrictions at Moscow's airports on Saturday for the third time in nine days, and a fire broke out near Sheremetyevo, Russia's busiest airport. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said 11 drones were shot down on their way to the city. By Saturday evening in Moscow, departures from Sheremetyevo were running about 50 minutes late on average, according to FlightAware data analyzed by Contrail. If you're flying in or out of Moscow, here's what's going on and what to expect.
What Happened Saturday
Drones, some reportedly carried by balloons, approached Moscow on Saturday morning, and flights were restricted at three of the city's airports. Sheremetyevo reportedly stopped flights for more than an hour. Later in the day, a column of black smoke rose near the airport. Reports from local monitoring channels place the fire at a fuel depot just north of Sheremetyevo, and it may have been started by debris from a drone that was shot down.
Separately, the US Embassy in Moscow warned on Saturday of a "credible threat" of a mass casualty attack at the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve in the south of the city and told Americans to avoid the area. Moscow's airports are a long way from Tsaritsyno, but it's added to a tense day in the city.
A Pattern, Not a One-Off
Saturday's disruption follows two bigger ones. On Friday, October 23, Russia's aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, restricted arrivals and departures at all four Moscow airports (Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky) as drones approached the city. Flights restarted, then were stopped again later that afternoon, and hundreds of flights were reportedly delayed or canceled.
It happened again on Friday, October 30. Restrictions were placed on Moscow's airports, and Rosaviatsia later announced they'd been lifted at Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky. Passengers at Sheremetyevo described hours of waiting in packed terminals, with some reportedly sleeping on the floor, and monitoring channels reported more than 100 cancellations there alone.
The reason is the same each time. Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on the Moscow region, and when drones approach, Russia restricts flights at the nearby airports until the threat passes. That keeps passenger planes out of the way, but it leaves hundreds of flights stuck at the gate or circling.
What It Means If You're Flying to Moscow
Most Western airlines haven't flown to Russia since 2022, when the EU, the US, the UK and Canada closed their airspace to Russian airlines and Russia closed its own to theirs. So most travelers heading to Moscow now fly on Aeroflot and other Russian airlines, or on airlines from Turkey, the Gulf and Asia that still serve the city.
The restrictions usually last hours rather than days, but the knock-on delays can run well into the night, and planes may be sent to other Russian airports instead. If you're flying through Moscow, check your flight status before you leave for the airport, leave extra time for connections and keep your plans as flexible as you can. The US State Department has long told Americans not to travel to Russia at all.
Latest Updates
Saturday, Oct. 31, 12:45 p.m. ET (7:45 p.m. in Moscow): FlightAware data shows Sheremetyevo departures over the past five hours averaging about 50 minutes late, with delays creeping up into the evening. Domodedovo is running close to normal. Separately, drones also disrupted flights in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, on Friday night: three UK flights had to divert.
