12 Oct (Reuters) – Saudi authorities extended the closure of Riyadh’s international airport until Saturday, and airlines canceled flights after the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, aligned with Iran, emptied the skies over the Saudi capital.
Operations at King Khalid International Airport, the second busiest in Saudi Arabia after Jeddah, were suspended to “allow the completion of procedures necessary to ensure the safety and operational readiness of the airport facilities,” the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
Late Monday, the Houthis claimed to have attacked the airport with a ballistic missile, shortly after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the group toward Riyadh.
The Houthis also said in a statement that they attacked an air base in Khamis Mushait, in the kingdom’s southwest, with a drone. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
A Pilot’s Notice issued on Monday indicated that King Khalid International Airport would remain closed until 21:00 GMT on October 17.
The airport has been closed since a strike occurred on Saturday, which killed 13 people and injured more than 300, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. On Sunday, another attack killed one person and wounded nearly a dozen others.
The attacks represented one of the biggest disruptions to Saudi aviation in recent years, increasing pressures on an industry already facing conflicts across the Middle East and higher jet fuel prices.
“This level of intense and ongoing attacks against civil aviation is unprecedented,” said Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP, a safety consultancy for aviation. “I think this requires us to rethink how we view the current risk landscape and act with great caution,” he said.
The Flightradar24 air traffic tracker showed that aircraft were avoiding Riyadh on Monday, though jets were crossing Saudi airspace and landing in Jeddah, on the country’s west coast.
Cancellations across all Saudi airports reached 46.4%, Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, said.
CRISIS
The disruption forced airlines in Europe and Asia to suspend services, and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advised American carriers on Sunday to exercise caution when flying to or over Saudi Arabia. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) broadened, on Friday, an alert about Saudi airspace, citing missile and drone attacks.
“The impact goes beyond Saudi Arabia, affecting the entire region and its global connections,” said aviation analyst John Strickland.
OPSGROUP recommended that airlines completely avoid the southern air corridor over the Middle East and follow a Europe-to-Asia route via Central Asia.
This adds a “considerable distance” to some routes and “eliminates the options of reaching Dubai and Abu Dhabi for most Western airlines,” Zee said.
The Lufthansa Group canceled all flights to Riyadh through October 16, while Air France-KLM extended the suspension of flights to and from Riyadh through the end of the month. Etihad Airways, of Abu Dhabi, also extended cancellations.
Delta Air Lines said it was postponing its planned flights from Atlanta to Riyadh, which were due to begin on October 23, until March 2027.
The escalation of the conflict with the Houthis raised concerns about broader economic impact. Analysts estimate that Saudi Arabia’s real GDP will contract by 3.6% this year, reflecting a combination of factors, including reduced oil-related activity.
The attacks put pressure on events scheduled this month in Riyadh, including the kingdom’s flagship investment conference and the World Petroleum Congress Energy Conference, from which several senior executives in the oil sector were withdrawn from the program.
