A record number of passengers since the beginning of 2010 departed Moscow on August 8 amid heavy smog in the city, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, said on Monday.
Moscow's airports faced their first problems on August 4, when several planes had to land in alternative airports amid fires and smog across Central Russia.
On Sunday, 104,044 passengers left Moscow's three major international airports for other cities within Russia and abroad after a backlog of flights from delays over the weekend.
The peak in the delay of air flights came on Saturday and the beginning of Sunday. However, the situation slightly normalized by Sunday evening. According to the Rosaviatsia spokesman, 879 planes came to Moscow on Sunday, and 845 planes left the city.
The smog severely enveloped the Russian capital on August 6, when many flights were redirected to the cities of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg and others.
Peat bog and forest fires raging outside the capital pushed pollution levels to new 2010 highs on Saturday, with carbon monoxide 6.5 times the maximum allowable concentration. RIA Novosti
