Russian airline Aeroflot was forced to cancel more than 50 round-trip flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the world’s biggest country, as two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyberattack.

The Kremlin said the situation was worrying, and lawmakers described it as a wake-up call for Russia. Prosecutors confirmed the disruption at the national flag carrier was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation.

Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack.

“We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the ‘hacktivists’ who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states,” Gorelkin said in a statement.

Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but “those who allowed systemic failures in protection.”

Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.

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The company’s shares were down by 3.9% by 1533 GMT, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.3% lower.

A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with Belarusian Cyberpartisans, a self-styled hacktivist group that opposes president Alexander Lukashenko and says it wants to liberate Belarus from dictatorship.

“Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!” said the statement in the name of Silent Crow.

Belarusian Cyberpartisans said on its website: “We are helping Ukrainians in their fight with the occupier, carrying out a cyber strike on Aeroflot and paralysing the largest airline in Russia.”

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government’s IT department and the Russian office of South Korean carmaker KIA. Some of those resulted in big data leaks.

“The information that we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming. The hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the population,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Aeroflot said it had cancelled 54 round-trip flights but planned to operate the remaining 206 out of a total of 260 scheduled for Monday. An online departure board for Sheremetyevo airport showed dozens of flights were delayed by hours.

“Specialists are currently working to minimise the impact on the flight schedule and to restore normal service operations,” Aeroflot said.

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The statements from Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyberpartisans said the cyberattack was the result of a year-long operation which had deeply penetrated Aeroflot’s network, destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over the personal computers of employees, including senior managers.

They published screenshots of file directories purportedly from inside Aeroflot’s network and threatened to soon start releasing “the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot”, as well as intercepted conversations and emails of Aeroflot staff.

Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia have become used to flight disruptions, usually caused by temporary airport closures during drone attacks.

Russian companies and government websites have been subjected to sporadic hacking attacks, but Monday’s was potentially the most damaging, because of the widespread disruption and the high profile of Aeroflot.

Former Aeroflot pilot and aviation expert Andrei Litvinov told Reuters: “This is a serious disaster. Okay, flight delays – you can survive that. But these are losses, huge losses for a state-owned company.”

He added: “If all the correspondence, all the corporate data is exposed – this can have very long-term consequences … First the drones, and now they are blowing up this situation from the inside.”

Passengers vented their anger on social network VK, complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline.

Malena Ashi wrote: “I’ve been sitting at Volgograd airport since 3:30!!!!! The flight has been rescheduled for the third time!!!!!! This time it was rescheduled for approximately 14:50, and it was supposed to depart at 5:00!!!”

Another woman, Yulia Pakhota, posted: “The call centre is unavailable, the website is unavailable, the app is unavailable.

“How can I return a ticket or exchange it for the next flight, as Aeroflot suggests?”

Aeroflot said affected passengers could get a refund or rebook as soon as its systems were back and it was trying to get some passengers seats on other airlines.

Despite Western sanctions on Russia that have drastically limited travel and routes, Aeroflot remains among the top 20 airlines worldwide by passenger numbers, which last year hit 55.3 million people, according to its website.

There’s a new tourism trend in town and it flies in the face of recent talk about “slow travel”. On the contrary, “extreme daytripping” entails getting to one’s destination quickly and early in order to cram as much into 24 hours as possible.

The phenomenon is being highlighted by the release of TUI’s 2026 winter schedule, an offering which once again includes the firm’s “Search for Santa” itinerary – a one-day only Lapland experience that can now be accessed from more UK departure points than ever, since the addition of Cardiff Airport, in Wales, alongside Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle,  Stansted, and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

Costing £750 per person (€865), the Christmassy trip takes travellers to Kittila in Finland, where they land around midday. The excitement includes time in the “Snow Village” where an ice hotel complete with igloo-like rooms and an icebar awaits, as well as sleigh rides with “Rudolph”, husky time, snowmobile adventures and, of course, a chance to meet the Red One himself – Santa.

All that, and still be back home in time to sleep in one’s own bed thanks to plane power? It doesn’t allow much room for acclimatising to ones surroundings and taking things in.

Treating flights like a bus ride or commute is perhaps more commonplace in the United States than in Europe, but “Extreme Day Trips” are increasingly popular, with a Facebook page dedicated to the idea attracting 240,000 members who exchange tips and discuss destinations such as Dubai, New York, and the Pyramids in Egypt. It’s arguably an efficient use of limited vacation allowances and, sometimes, budget – allowing one to discover famous sites without spending a fortune on accommodation.

But many argue that the trips are an environmental hazard. Matt Phillis, travel expert at Polarsteps, speaking to Metro newspapernotes that “A flight generates 100 times more carbon dioxide per hour compared to a train or bus ride,” he said, and worse, “short-haul flights, covering less than 1000 miles, contribute disproportionately more to carbon emissions. This is because take-off and landing are so energy-intensive.”

As a result, Phillis recommends train travel instead, echoing the words of Anna Hughes, director of Flight Free UK, who has told The Independent the trips are a choice that is “very worrying for the climate” and that “taking short journeys such as day trips to far-flung places encourages more frequent travel than if you were staying for a longer holiday. This means many more flights are being taken overall.”

@live_thedash What is an Extreme Day Trip? How far can you go on an Extreme Day Trip? Ideas for your next EDT from the UK #ExtremeDayTrip #DayTrip #Ryanair #NewYork #CityBreak ♬ original sound – Live_TheDash

Hughes also described the trips to Lapland as in particularly dubious taste, given that snowy destinations are likely to suffer damage from climate change driven by aviation emissions. But, commenting on the new schedule, Chris Logan, TUI UK’s commercial director said, “we’re making it easier than ever for families across the UK to experience the magic of Lapland.”

Singapore Airlines (SIA) carried a record number of passengers between April and June thanks to “robust demand” for travel.

The Asian carrier, which also owns budget brand Scoot, saw passenger numbers increase by 6.9 per cent to 10.3 million for the first quarter of its financial year, while revenue went up by 1.5 per cent to SG$4.8 billion (€3.2 billion).

Despite this growth in traffic and revenue, SIA’s passenger yields fell by 2.9 per cent year-on-year “amid heightened competition as more airlines continue to add capacity”.

The group added that demand for flights “remains healthy” in the current quarter across most global regions.

“However, the global airline industry continues to face a volatile operating environment, with challenges ranging from geopolitical developments and macroeconomic fluctuations to changing market dynamics and supply chain constraints,” said SIA in its announcement. “The group will be agile and proactive in responding to changes in demand patterns.”

SIA’s proposed commercial joint venture with Malaysia Airlines has just received conditional approval from the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore. The deal will allow the two airlines to collaborate on sales and marketing, as well as expand codeshare flights.

Meanwhile, the group said it would “ramp up” capacity from Singapore to several regional destinations, such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines, with the impending closure of budget rival Jetstar Asia on 31 July.

Scoot has also continued to add long-haul services, including a route between Singapore and Vienna, which launched in June.

SIA’s operating profit for the quarter fell by 13.8 per cent year-on-year to SG$405 million (€270 million). This was due to higher inflation on non-fuel costs and accounting for losses from its 25.1 per cent stake in Air India Group, which SIA acquired following Air India’s merger with Vistara earlier this year.