Quick summary
All four Moscow airports — Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky — stopped accepting and dispatching aircraft at 14:05 Moscow time on October 23, 2026, after Rosaviatsiya imposed flight-safety restrictions. Vnukovo and Domodedovo resumed limited movements under a clearance regime at 16:43. Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky had no announced restart, leaving anyone booked through them facing delays and rebooking.
Emirates flight EK133 from Dubai reached Domodedovo about 2 hours 21 minutes late after holding over the Penza region. An airport listed as open does not guarantee a normal departure.
Moscow’s four commercial airports stopped accepting and dispatching aircraft within minutes of one another on the afternoon of October 23, 2026. Rosaviatsiya, the federal air transport agency, extended restrictions to Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky at 14:05 Moscow time, after narrower measures had already been in force at Vnukovo since 12:55 and at Domodedovo since 13:00.
The agency cited flight-safety requirements and gave no advance notice of the citywide order.
Two hours and thirty-eight minutes later, at 16:43, Vnukovo and Domodedovo began handling traffic again under a clearance regime — a conditional arrangement in which individual movements proceed only with official coordination. Sheremetyevo, the busiest of the four, and Zhukovsky, the smallest, were left out of that partial restart.
For anyone holding a ticket into or out of Moscow on October 23 or 24, the operative question is narrower than “are the airports open.” It is whether your specific flight has clearance, and that answer sits with your airline rather than with the airport operator.
What Rosaviatsiya shut down, and what it reopened
Rosaviatsiya announced the restrictions across the whole Moscow network rather than a single terminal or runway. In practice that meant no arrivals and no departures at SVO, DME, VKO or ZIA for roughly two and a half hours.
The sequence is the part worth reading closely, because it shows how the afternoon moved from partial measures to a full stop and back to a conditional restart.
| Time | Event | Operational status |
|---|---|---|
| 12:55 | Restrictions begin at Vnukovo | Partial — one airport |
| 13:00 | Restrictions begin at Domodedovo | Partial — two airports |
| 14:05 | Rosaviatsiya extends restrictions to all four airports | Arrivals and departures halted |
| 16:43 | Vnukovo and Domodedovo resume under clearance | Limited, coordinated movements |
| 17:11 | Emirates EK133 arrives at Domodedovo | Scheduled 14:50; 2h 21m late |
Passenger-facing reporting from Meduza described schedule changes at Domodedovo and Vnukovo during the restriction window and warned of potentially lengthy waits, with an air-raid alert declared at one of the airports.
Emirates flight EK133 from Dubai was the visible cost of the hold. The Airbus A380 was tracked circling over the Penza region while it waited for clearance, and flight-status records show it landing at Domodedovo at 17:11 local time against a scheduled 14:50 — a slip of 2 hours 21 minutes. The aircraft did land, which separates a delayed movement from a cancelled route.
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Why a clearance regime is not a normal airport
This is the distinction that catches travelers out. A full closure stops everything. A clearance regime lets aircraft move when the agency and the airline coordinate each individual movement — a slower, conditional version of normal, not a return to timetable.
So a departures board showing a flight as “scheduled” tells you very little. What carries information is the airline’s own status feed and the aircraft’s actual position. EK133 is the case study: the widebody held outside Moscow airspace until permission came, then completed the sector more than two hours behind plan.
Closing all four airports at once strips the city of every fallback. Recovery therefore tends to arrive in stages rather than all at once, which is exactly why Vnukovo and Domodedovo restarted while Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky did not.
How to protect a booking caught in the Moscow closure
As of the latest Rosaviatsiya update, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky remain restricted, so anyone booked through either on October 23 or 24 should treat their flight as unconfirmed until the airline says otherwise.
- Check the airline, not the airport. Airport-wide status pages lag behind carrier decisions. Confirm directly in your airline’s app or by phone before leaving for the terminal.
- Verify the airport code on your ticket. SVO, DME, VKO and ZIA are separate operations with separate carriers. Turning up at the wrong one is not a fixable mistake on the day.
- Build slack into same-day connections. Even a landed aircraft can leave baggage delivery and transfer desks running well behind schedule. Several hours of buffer is the realistic figure right now.
- Ask about rebooking terms immediately. Waiting for a cancellation notice costs options. Carriers can move you to a later frequency while seats still exist.
- Track the tail, not the timetable. Tools such as FlightAware or your carrier’s own tracker show where the aircraft actually is — the only reliable signal during a clearance regime.
Watch: whether Rosaviatsiya lifts restrictions at Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky. If the October 23 pattern holds, expect a staged, clearance-based restart rather than a clean reopening.
Reporting by
Questions? Answers.
Were Moscow flights cancelled or just delayed?
Delayed, in the case of Emirates EK133, which landed at Domodedovo roughly 2 hours 21 minutes behind schedule. Rosaviatsiya suspended movements rather than cancelling routes, so most affected aircraft eventually operated once clearance came through. Confirm your own flight’s status with the operating carrier.
Can I switch my booking to a different Moscow airport?
Only if your airline agrees. Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky serve different carriers and terminals, and a ticket is tied to one airport code. Ask the operating airline about rebooking before travelling to any of them.
Do I qualify for compensation under EU261?
EU261 and UK261 cover flights departing EU or UK airports on carriers based in those jurisdictions. A Dubai–Moscow service such as EK133 falls outside both. Whether you are owed anything for the disrupted leg depends on where your journey originated and which carrier operates it.
Are onward connections through Moscow at risk?
Yes. Even when an aircraft lands, baggage delivery and transfer desks can trail behind the flight itself. Allow several hours of slack for same-day connections out of Domodedovo or Vnukovo, and ask about rebooking if your itinerary depends on a single one.
