Moscow airports suffered severe flight disruptions after authorities enforced overnight airspace restrictions across the Russian capital, triggering delays of up to 20 hours.
The emergency measures, known in Russian aviation regulations as Plan Carpet, remained active throughout the night across all four commercial airports serving the capital, according to the travel industry Telegram channel Krysha TurDoma.
The flight restrictions took effect on 2 November at 11:00 p.m. and were lifted at 8:02 a.m. on 3 November. Vnukovo International Airport was the first facility to close, followed closely by Domodedovo Airport. The capital's other two major airports, Sheremetyevo International Airport and Zhukovsky International Airport, operated under tight restrictions, accepting and dispatching aircraft only through special coordination with air traffic authorities.
Under Russian aviation rules, Plan Carpet is an emergency security protocol activated whenever unidentified aircraft, drones, or other potential hazards enter civilian airspace. When the order is issued, commercial pilots must immediately land at designated airfields or divert away from the closed zone, while all outbound departures remain grounded on the tarmac. Moscow relies on these four primary passenger hubs to handle tens of millions of domestic and international travellers every year.
Diverted flights and stranded travellers
The prolonged overnight closure forced dozens of incoming passenger planes to divert to alternate airfields across the country. Scheduled arrivals were rerouted to regional airports in Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, and Saint Petersburg.
International services were heavily affected by the shutdown. A Nesma Airlines flight arriving from the Egyptian resort city of Hurghada was forced to divert and land in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Several other passenger jets aborted their journeys and returned to Istanbul in Turkey, while another flight flew back to Baku in Azerbaijan.
At Vnukovo Airport alone, cancellations affected 25 flights, including routes to popular holiday destinations and regional hubs in Turkey, Egypt, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. More than 70 scheduled flights were delayed at the terminal, while several return services were cancelled entirely.
Mounting delays across Russia
Disruptions continued long after air traffic controllers reopened the airspace on the morning of 3 November. A Utair flight bound for Yerevan was running 21 hours behind schedule, while two scheduled departures to Baku were postponed by 16.5 hours and 18 hours respectively. The widespread delays also caused some tourists to miss connecting flights onward to European destinations.
The overnight chaos follows a month of widespread aviation issues across the country. In October 2026, every second flight at Russian airports was delayed or cancelled, with 34,000 departures affected nationwide.
