A Red Wings Airlines flight from Sochi to Tel Aviv was delayed by 29 hours after airspace restrictions grounded multiple flights in southern Russia.
The flight was originally scheduled to depart from Sochi International Airport at 18:00 on September 3, 2026. Departure was rescheduled to 23:10 on September 4 following the activation of a Kover airspace security protocol over Sochi.
Russian travel industry outlet TourDom reported the delay, which left passengers stranded for more than a day. Under Russian aviation safety regulations, the Kover protocol obliges all civilian aircraft to clear designated airspace or land at nearest airfields, creating immediate ground stops for departing services. Red Wings Airlines is a Russian carrier headquartered in Moscow, while Tel Aviv is the economic center of Israel on the Mediterranean coast.
Rossiya Airlines also suffered a major schedule disruption when flight FV 6201 to Kazan was delayed by a full day. The aircraft was scheduled to leave Sochi on September 3 at 10:25, but departure was postponed until 11:00 on September 4 from Adler airport.
Sochi International Airport is situated in the Adler district along the Black Sea coast and serves as the primary aviation hub for Krasnodar Krai. Rossiya Airlines operates as a major subsidiary of Aeroflot, Russia's flag carrier, while Kazan is the historic capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Additional Flight Delays
Several other passenger flights experienced major delays at the Sochi airfield. Another outgoing flight to Saint Petersburg was postponed by 19 hours, while Russian low cost carrier Pobeda recorded a 15-hour delay on its scheduled service to Novosibirsk.
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second largest city, located on the Baltic Sea coast. Pobeda is a low-cost subsidiary of the state-owned Aeroflot Group, and Novosibirsk is the largest municipal center in Siberia. Belarusian flag carrier Belavia also logged a 13-hour delay for its scheduled flight to Minsk, the capital city of Belarus.
Sochi airport authorities reported that ground teams continue working to dispatch backlogged flights from the previous day. In an unrelated international aviation development, African carrier Air Tanzania decided to suspend all flights to Moscow. Air Tanzania is the national flag carrier of Tanzania, based in Dar es Salaam.
