Moscow airports close overnight after drone alerts
Written by AI from 8 reports listed below. Not checked by a person before publication. How we use AI
All four major Moscow airports suspended arrivals and departures overnight on 15‑16 October following drone alerts, with the mayor saying 94 drones were shot down and hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled.
Airport closures
Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky were ordered to stop accepting and dispatching aircraft after the Federal Air Transport Agency introduced emergency airspace restrictions. All four airports had reopened by 5:43 a.m. Moscow time on Friday, 16 October, with Domodedovo and Zhukovsky resuming operations after Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo.
Domodedovo experienced the longest closure, from 10:15 p.m. on 15 October until 5:43 a.m. on 16 October, a period of about seven hours and 28 minutes. Vnukovo remained restricted for more than six hours, reopening at 5:06 a.m., and Zhukovsky resumed at 5:43 a.m.
Flight disruptions
More than 20 inbound flights were forced to divert as the airports were closed. Reports indicate that over 200 flights were cancelled across the Moscow airports, while another source notes more than 160 flights cancelled. One outlet recorded that more than 370 flights were delayed or cancelled, and another said 423 flights had been delayed since the previous evening. The Moscow Times reported over 500 flights delayed or cancelled during the 13‑14 October disruption.
Drone interceptions
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences shot down 94 drones approaching the capital during the attack. A separate report from a Russian source stated that 75 drones were destroyed on approach that night, bringing the total destroyed to 144.
What's still unclear
Sources differ on the number of flights cancelled or delayed, reporting figures ranging from more than 160 to over 500, and on the total drones shot down, with counts of 94, 75, and 144 mentioned.