Russia’s Aeroflot to fly stranded passengers

Moscow, Dec 29 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Hundreds of travellers, stranded at Moscow airports following an ice storm, will be taken to their destinations by Aeroflot Wednesday, the airline said.

“For today we were tasked with flying all our stranded passengers,” a spokesman said without giving the exact number of flights scheduled.

Aeroflot earlier announced the cancellation of 46 flights — both domestic and international — scheduled for Wednesday.

Moscow’s largest airport, Domodedovo, announced earlier in the day that all passengers waiting for their flights since the weekend have departed, but hundreds of passengers from 17 flights scheduled for Tuesday remain stranded.

“As of Dec 28, a total of 544 flights were performed, 291 of them outbound and 253 inbound. As of 9.00 Moscow time (Wednesday), 85 flights departed and 87 landed,” the airport said.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at Moscow airports following an ice storm that hit the entire territory of Central Russia over the weekend. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and delayed as severe freezing rain caused serious power outages. Some 20,000 passengers have been affected by the weather.

Religious organisations in Russia are helping out the thousands of passengers stranded for days at the airports.

The Jewish Community Federation of Russia Tuesday sent a truck loaded with 1,500 bottles of water and children’s wafers to Domodedovo International Airport. Most of the aid sent to the capital’s airports are for families with small children.

“We understand that our help to those at Domodedovo Airport is a minor contribution to what they need right now, but we nonetheless hope that even this will help the people,” the Jewish Community’s president, Alexander Boroda, said.

“About 500 bottles of water, around 200 packs of moist towels, and approximately 1,000 disposable diapers will be delivered to Domodedovo,” the Russian Orthodox Church’s Social Activity and Charity Department’s press secretary, Vasily Rulinsky, said.

Russia’s head doctor, Gennady Onishchenko, who visited Domodedovo International Airport earlier Tuesday, said that the airport is extremely overcrowded as it was designed to hold some 3,000 people; however, the number of people has risen to approximately 10,000. “I’m glad the toilets are still working,” he said.

–IANS/RIA Novosti