Russia economy meltdown as airlines face £186m losses in just 2 days | World | News
Russia‘s already declining economy has been dealt yet another blow as its airlines lost a staggering £186 million in just two days. Last weekend, some of the country’s key airports were shut down due to Ukrainian drone attacks, causing travel as well as economic chaos. Pro-Kremlin outlet Kommersant estimated this could’ve taken a 20 billion-ruble (£186 million) toll on the airlines, according to airline representatives and industry experts.
Direct airline losses from cancelled Boeing 737-800 flights can run between 15 million and 23 million rubles (£140,000-£215,000) each depending on the route. Then there are also costs for delays, diversions, and taking care of passengers to factor in. In terms of indirect losses, missed connections, missed taxis and hotels, and supply chain disruptions, could have brought the total up to tens of billions of rubles, according to Dmitry Datsykov of Expo UAV.
The closures caused 485 flights to be cancelled, 1,900 delayed, and 88 diverted, as per Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsiya.
Over 94,000 disgruntled passengers were subsequently sent to hotels, with hundreds of thousands of food and drink vouchers also handed out as compensation. In total, airlines were forced to hand out 43,000 refunds.
While Ukraine did not publicly claim responsibility for the chaos, it’s drone strategy aims to undermine Russian logistics and make the public experience the consequences of war.
Photos and videos posted to social media over the weekend captured huge queues with people sitting and lying on the floor as they have nowhere else to go.
A lockdown imposed by officials also meant that passengers could not get off the planes still on the tarmac.
Several said they had been waiting for over four hours on board their planes, with staff unable to tell them when they would be allowed to get off.
One of the worst affected airports was Sheremetyevo in Moscow, where over 170 flights were delayed and almost 50 cancelled.
Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport also had over 30 flights cancelled and some 100 delayed. Other airports affected by the chaos included Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad.
