Pulkovo Airport temporarily does not receive or send aircraft. On this subject reported RIA Novosti in the government of St. Petersburg.
The reason for this decision is not specified.
A few minutes later, the city authorities changed their message . Now it says that Pulkovo “announced a flight delay of up to 12 hours”, and the airport and its services are “operating as usual”. Base informed that the airspace over St. Petersburg is closed until 13:00.
As appears from the data of the Flightradar24 service, the airspace of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region has become empty.
Airspace over St. Petersburg. Screenshot from Flightradar24 website
In particular, Rossiya Airlines flight SU 6018, en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, turned back on approach to Pulkovo. Aeroflot flight SU 1002, from Moscow and Kaliningrad, also changed its course on approach to St. Petersburg.
Baza claims that the “Carpet” plan was introduced in St. Petersburg due to an unidentified object in the air. There is no official confirmation of this information.
About the carpet signal said in the rules for the use of Russian airspace. This signal is given by the air defense authorities when illegally crossing the state border of Russia, using weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces against an intruding aircraft, as well as when unidentified planes appear in the airspace.
The signal “Carpet” means “the requirement for an immediate landing or withdrawal from the area concerned of all aircraft in flight, except for aircraft involved in the fight against intruding aircraft and carrying out search and rescue”.
