On the night of September 2, several “Pegasus” flights heading to Moscow were turned back, writes “Ostorožno, Novosti” and “Post”. This happened after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that the airspace over Russia would be closed.
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Among others, flights PC1456 on the Bodrum-Moscow route, PC1521 on the Izmir-Moscow route, and PC1576 on the Antalya-Moscow route were redirected back to their departure airports.
Canceled dozens of flights
On Wednesday morning, the airline canceled several dozen flights from Istanbul to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, as well as from Antalya, Izmir, and Dalaman to Russian cities. Return flights from Russia were also canceled.
For passengers of one of the canceled flights, a “Pegasus” representative stated that “the Turkish side prohibits departures” and the company does not know what to expect next. At Russian ticket offices, “Pegasus” representatives said they were “unaware” whether the company’s planes would continue flying to Moscow and could not provide information about upcoming flights.
Affected 80 flights
According to “Ostorožno, novosti,” about 80 flights were canceled or delayed last night at Moscow airports due to the threat of drones. Specifically, schedule changes affected 40 flights at Sheremetyevo Airport, 20 at Domodedovo, and 17 at Vnukovo. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that overnight, 130 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions, including the Moscow region and the annexed Crimea.
The day before, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the airspace over Russia would “effectively be closed.”
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“Russian airspace is unsafe”
“We want to warn every airline using Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone still using major Russian airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” he said.
He clarified that Kyiv will not attack civilian planes, but there will be drones in Russian skies “on a scale that must be taken into account.” According to him, this will primarily affect Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and other important travel points.
Vladimir Putin reacted angrily to V. Zelensky’s statement, recalls “The Moscow Times.”
“We will find something to respond with. Let no one doubt that,” said V. Putin.
In turn, Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin promised to prevent “any significant disruptions” in civil aviation operations.
“We will definitely handle this in the coming years,” summarized A. Nikitin.
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