Thousands of passengers have been unable to fly out of Sochi for several days due to drone attacks
8 June 07:09
Since Friday, June 5, operations at Sochi Airport have been severely disrupted due to attacks by Ukrainian drones, and thousands of passengers have been unable to leave the resort city for several days, reports "Komersant Ukrainian", citing Russian propaganda media.
During this time, the airport has been open for only eight minutes, the media reports. Thirty-nine incoming flights have been delayed, 37 outgoing flights have been delayed, and another 17 have been canceled.
The terminals have become crowded with people. There are practically no empty seats: passengers are forced to sit and lie directly on the floor, using towels and travel mats.
“Not a single empty chair. People are lying on the floor. All the information desks are occupied, and there’s no clarity. The departure boards are blank,” said one of the passengers.
According to media reports, due to overcrowding at the airport, elevators are breaking down, the halls are stifling, and people are fainting.
Some flights are being diverted to alternate airports: for example, the Moscow–Sochi flight was first sent to Astrakhan and then to Mineralnye Vody. Check-in for a number of flights is not taking place, and passengers are not receiving clear information and effectively do not know what to do.
This is not the first time such a large-scale disruption of air traffic has occurred amid drone attacks. In early May, according to estimates by “New Europe,” about a thousand departing flights and over 1,200 arriving flights were delayed at Moscow’s Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Domodedovo airports, with approximately 300 more canceled. At that time, passengers were also stuck in the terminals around the clock without clear information, sleeping on the floor and trying to find alternative routes, particularly via St. Petersburg.
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