All four Moscow airports shut down amid massive drone attack
Vnukovo Airport (photo: facebook.com/seoshnik)
A record number of drones attacked Moscow on the evening of November 12. The massive drone raid forced all four airports in the Russian capital to close, causing flight delays, Russian outlet MSK1.RU reports.
Reports emerged online that the Russian capital had been hit by a record-breaking drone attack in terms of the number of drones involved.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed that air defense forces had shot down 46 drones heading toward the city in less than an hour.
Later, the total number of drones allegedly destroyed rose to 51, and a drone threat alert was declared in the Moscow region.
Amid the drone attack, operations were restricted at all four of Moscow's main airports — Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky.
Vnukovo Airport was the first to introduce special operating restrictions, followed by similar measures at the other airports.
According to online flight information boards, delays began to occur at the airports.
The most difficult situation is at Vnukovo, where around a dozen arriving flights are delayed, leaving the arrivals board filled with delays.
At Sheremetyevo, around two dozen flights are experiencing delays, mostly arrivals, although most flights are operating on schedule.
Meanwhile, only a few delays have been reported at Domodedovo, while Zhukovsky Airport is currently experiencing no scheduling problems.
Similar disruptions to Russian aviation caused by drone raids have occurred before.
In particular, on the evening of November 2, a drone attack paralyzed all four Moscow airports, with two of them completely suspending arrivals and departures.
At the time, Russian air defenses allegedly shot down 46 UAVs over several hours.
An even larger disruption occurred in late October.
On October 29, more than 460 flights were delayed or canceled in Russia due to a record-breaking drone attack, which simultaneously affected airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
