A total of 264 flights from Russian airports were delayed or cancelled after an ash cloud spread over Europe from a volcano eruption in Iceland, Russia's federal civil aviation agency said.
The eruption on the Eyjafjallajokull Glacier in Iceland, which began on Wednesday, has disabled air traffic throughout central and northern Europe, leaving thousands of travelers stranded. The cloud is expected to remain there for four to five days.
As of Saturday evening, 146 flights from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport were delayed or cancelled, and 1,400 passengers have been put up in a hotel. A total of 79 flights from Moscow's Domodedovo and Vnukovo were also delayed.
The ash cloud also cancelled or delayed flights from St. Petersburg in northwestern Russia, Rostov-on-Don in the south, Yekaterinburg in the Urals, Samara in the Volga area, and Siberia's Tyumen and Novosibirsk.
Airports in other Russian cities, including the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, are working in normal regime.
Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot, which cancelled over 40 Sunday flights, said the cost of tickets will be returned in full.
MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti)
