Sheremetyevo Airport Chaos After Major Booking System Failure

On Monday afternoon, January 26, a large-scale failure occurred in the Leonardo booking system, which immediately affected several airlines. Because of this, carriers were forced to limit passenger check-in and baggage handling.

Leonardo is a domestic airline ticket booking system developed by the corporations Sirena Travel and Rostec. The system is used by the airlines Aeroflot, Rossiya, Pobeda, Ural Airlines, and Red Wings.

The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) stated that the Leonardo system«s operation has been restored. However, the failure affected the airlines» departure and arrival schedules — there are cancellations of some flights.

We show what is currently happening at Sheremetyevo Airport.

According to the airport«s online board, more than ten flights have already been canceled, and some are delayed. The board at Sheremetyevo is also dotted with red.

After the system failure, many passengers gathered at the airport: some had their flights delayed, while others had theirs canceled or postponed. People are lining up to sort out their tickets.

Representatives of Sheremetyevo also stated that flight departures may be delayed for reasons beyond the airport and airlines« control.

«To support passengers, audio announcements were broadcast in Sheremetyevo terminals, and information was published on media displays. The information service continues to operate in an enhanced mode,» the airport«s press service clarified.

Passengers lined up at the counters to rebook their tickets.

«I»m flying to Blagoveshchensk. God willing, we«ll fly today, because the flight has already been postponed by two hours. Now we»ll go to the check-in counters because they announced the start,« shared a passenger.

«I»m standing in line for check-in to Astrakhan. The line is moving fairly quickly, the flight itself hasn«t been postponed, and I hope we»ll depart on time,« one of the passengers told MSK1.RU.

This is the situation at the check-in area.

Recall that this is not the first massive failure in the airline booking system. In the summer of 2025, due to the same problem, the carrier reported forced adjustments to flight schedules and warned passengers about possible disruptions in online services. For more details, we covered it in a separate story.