The upcoming workweek in Russia will be shortened, with only May 11, 12, and 13 designated for work. A longer break is expected for Russians later in the year as a sequence of holidays unfolds.
June offers a notable four-day stretch tied to the Day of Russia on June 12, with celebrations noted by TASS based on the 2022 production calendar. Since Russia Day falls on a Sunday, the holiday has been moved to Monday, June 13, extending the long weekend and creating a four-day work week for many employees. This shift aligns with the country’s approach to consolidating holidays with adjacent weekends, a pattern that shapes travel plans and business activity alike.
The period preceding the New Year holidays will include a long weekend from November 4 to 6, coinciding with the Day of National Unity. In the recent schedule, May 10 was flagged as a peak travel day, a forecast that highlighted busy travel corridors and crowded airports during the transition from the spring break into the early summer travel season.
Travel insights from OneTwoTrip suggest heightened activity at Moscow’s airports around May 10. Data show domestic passengers returning to more cities at around a third of the month’s average level for the first half of the month, with a notable uptick in outbound and return journeys. On the last day of the holiday weekend, about half of travelers plan to fly to Domodedovo, exceeding the monthly average, while connections to Sheremetyevo also see a significant rise. Zhukovsky reports a similar pattern, with 60 to 70 percent more travelers than usual anticipated in the first half of the month. Vnukovo experiences a 20 percent lift in demand on May 10 itself.
St. Petersburg’s airport is projected to be the busiest on May 10 as the holiday period inflows extend beyond Moscow. These travel patterns reflect the broader Canadian and American audiences’ understanding of how national holidays affect domestic and international air traffic, even though the calendar is national to Russia. The weekends around these dates tend to generate heightened demand for flights, rail, and other forms of transport as residents connect with family, friends, and regional destinations during the shorter work periods.
In summary, the front-loaded May workdays and the June Day of Russia celebration create clear spikes in travel volume within Russia. For travelers and logistics planners, the key takeaway is to anticipate increased airport activity and to plan around the four-day weekends and peak travel days when booking flights or trains. These patterns, reported by major agencies, help shape expectations for capacity, schedules, and the overall pace of travel during these holiday periods.