Moscow Shrouded In Thick Fog, More Than 100 Flights Delayed

Illustration of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/Rakoon)

JAKARTA - More than 100 flights at three airports were delayed, due to the thick fog that enveloped Moscow, Russia, according to the Moscow airport press service, Tuesday local time.

Fog blanketing Moscow forced dozens of flights at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo airports to be delayed on Tuesday afternoon. This includes a number of diverted flights.

In Sheremetyevo, more than 30 flights were delayed (until 11:50 Moscow time). While in Domodedovo, more than 25 flights (until 12:15 Moscow time) and in Vnukovo up to 47 flights (until 12:10 Moscow). In addition, at least 20 aircraft were also diverted to alternative airports, including at Domodedovo.

"On November 2 (until 12:10 Moscow time) 47 flights were delayed (for more than an hour) at Vnukovo, due to short visibility conditions," the airport said, citing TASS November 2.

"From 00:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., the airport served about 120 flights for arrivals and departures. 16 flights were diverted to Domodedovo from other airports in the Moscow air hub, 23 flights to alternative airfields," reports the press service of Domodedovo.

In the morning, the Federal Air Transport Service reported that more than 30 flights had been diverted to an alternative airfield in Moscow overnight.

To note, on the night of November 1-2, a thick fog covered Moscow. Marina Makarova, chief expert at the Russian Center for Hydrometeorology, told TASS the fog in the capital is of natural origin and appears as a result of a sharp cooling of the air. According to him, the fog will slowly fade by 14:00 p.m. in Moscow and by 15:00 p.m. in the Moscow region.