- Saudi Arabia has extended the closure of Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport until October 17
- The airport has been shut since an attack on October 10 killed 13 people
- Cancellations across all Saudi airports reached 46.4pc
- Lufthansa Group cancelled all flights to Riyadh until October 16
- Delta Air Lines postponed its Atlanta-Riyadh service until March 2027
Saudi Arabia has extended the closure of Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport until October 17 after deadly Houthi attacks. The extension forces airlines to cancel services and disrupts one of the kingdom’s main aviation hubs. Operations at the airport, Saudi Arabia’s second busiest after Jeddah, were suspended to allow for the completion of procedures to ensure the safety and operational readiness of the airport’s facilities.
A Notice to Airmen issued later in the day showed the airport would remain closed until 2100 GMT on October 17. The airport has been shut since an attack on October 10 killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. Another attack on Sunday killed one person and injured nearly a dozen others.
Cancellations across all Saudi airports reached 46.4pc according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The disruption has prompted airlines across Europe and Asia to suspend services. Lufthansa Group has cancelled all flights to Riyadh until October 16 while Air France-KLM has extended its suspension of services to and from the Saudi capital until the end of the month. Delta Air Lines postponed its planned Atlanta-Riyadh service from its original October 23 launch until March 2027.
More than 3,100 flights across Saudi Arabia have been cancelled between October 8 and October 14, 2026, following a series of deadly Houthi missile and projectile attacks. The strikes forced the complete closure of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which is scheduled to remain shut until October 17, 2026.
Domestic carriers bore the heaviest brunt of the network groundings, though major international airlines quickly suspended operations: Local Airlines: Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), Flynas, and flyadeal have collectively cancelled hundreds of routes. At least 15 major operators, including Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Etihad Airways, Emirates, flydubai, and multiple Indian carriers like IndiGo and Air India, have extended flight suspensions to Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah until mid-to-late October.
Delta Air Lines has delayed its highly anticipated nonstop service launch between Atlanta and Riyadh from October 23 until March 2027.
According to aviation analytics data from Cirium and FlightAware, the disruption crippled air travel across the region, peaking mid-week:
- October 8–9: Disruption began after an initial missile strike on Thursday, October 8. By Friday, October 9, 96 departures (24%) out of Riyadh were cancelled.
- October 10 (Saturday): A major, deadly assault struck Terminal 3, killing 12 to 13 people. This triggered 234 cancellations (65% of scheduled departures).
- October 11 (Sunday): A subsequent projectile strike hit Terminal 4. Consequently, 293 departures were cancelled—wiping out 99.7% of Riyadh’s scheduled flights for the day.
- October 12 (Monday): Marked the worst single day for regional operations, with 632 out of 1,048 flights (60.31%) cancelled.
- October 13 (Tuesday): Roughly 556 of 1,058 scheduled departures (52.55%) were grounded.
- October 14 (Wednesday): At least 313 departures (28.53%) are pre-emptively marked as cancelled or no-fly, with numbers expected to rise.
As of October 14, 2026, Saudi Arabia’s international aviation connectivity has been severely severely degraded and disrupted following a devastating, week-long wave of coordinated drone and missile attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia. The strikes, which peaked over the October 10–11 weekend with fatal strikes on major hubs, have triggered indefinite airport closures, mass flight cancellations by international carriers, and widespread airspace restrictions:
- King Khalid International Airport (RUH) – Riyadh: Fully closed to all commercial passenger and cargo air traffic. Following catastrophic strikes on Terminal 4 that killed at least 12 to 18 people and injured over 300, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) officially extended the shutdown through at least Saturday, October 17, 2026, to conduct structural safety and operational checks.
- King Fahd International Airport (DMM) – Dammam: Severely disrupted. Dammam has been targeted by multiple strikes, prompting immediate flight suspensions by regional and international airlines.
- King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED) – Jeddah: Operational but constrained. While aircraft continue to land at Jeddah, its capacity is heavily strained as airlines re-route or cancel flights entirely to avoid the broader Saudi airspace.
- Regional Airports: Airports in Abha, Jazan, and Najran have also been hit, effectively paralyzing commercial aviation across the southern and western regions of the kingdom.
The Houthi militia issued an explicit warning to all global airlines to avoid Saudi airspace. In response, international connectivity has collapsed. Major regional operators, including Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, have entirely suspended flights to Riyadh, Dammam, and selective routes to Jeddah.
Multiple international airlines have grounded scheduled services. Notably, Delta Air Lines has officially delayed its highly anticipated launch of direct flights to the kingdom, pushing its timeline back to 2027. Normal scheduled cargo flight access to the capital is completely halted, crippling the supply chain for freight forwarders and express delivery services relying on international air cargo links.
International regulators have dramatically narrowed the corridors safe for transit, impacting even airlines that are just flying over Saudi Arabia:
- EASA (Europe): The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has significantly expanded its conflict zone bulletins. European carriers are strongly advised to avoid a massive block of northern, northwestern, and southern Saudi airspace, specifically drawing boundaries from the Kuwait flight information region (FIR) down to Qatar, enveloping Riyadh, Dammam, and Madinah.
- FAA (United States): The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued urgent caution advisories for the entirety of Saudi airspace, prompting US and aligned partner airlines to alter major international flight paths between Europe and Asia.
