Attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have nearly emptied the skies over Riyadh this month, aviation data showed on Monday, with cancellations grounding almost nine out of every 10 scheduled flights at the Saudi capital's airport, Reuters reported on October 26, citing data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Source: Reuters graphic, Oct 26, via DevDiscourse
About 86% of scheduled flights at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, or 4,071 out of 4,736, were cancelled between October 8 and October 25, according to Cirium. The Houthis have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia this month, targeting airports, ports and oil facilities with ballistic missiles and drones. Riyadh's airport, the kingdom's second-busiest after Jeddah, has been struck repeatedly, including an attack on October 10 that killed 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade — those casualty figures are as Reuters reported them.
Source: Reuters, via MENA Today, Oct 26
Saudi authorities partially reopened the airport on Sunday after a halt that had started on October 10. Domestic flights resumed from Terminal 1, while national carriers were allowed to operate international services from Terminal 2. However, the Houthis said they had attacked Riyadh's airport again on Monday, calling it a "military target" — that Monday attack is a Houthi claim, reported here as a claim, not independently verified in the Reuters graphic.
Source: Reuters graphic, Oct 26, via DevDiscourse
Airlines pull back, events cancelled — and the Gulf worker angle
The attacks have prompted international airlines to suspend services to the Saudi capital into November, while Delta Air Lines has postponed the launch of its Riyadh route until next year, Reuters reported. The disruption has forced several events in Riyadh to be cancelled or postponed, including Saudi Arabia's marquee investment conference, as flight cancellations hamper travel to and across the kingdom. Arab Local's breakdown of the same Cirium figures put Jeddah's disruption at about 22% (1,402 of 6,380) and Dammam's at about 42% (823 of 1,956), showing the upheaval spread well beyond the capital.
Source: Arab Local, reporting Cirium figures, Oct 26
The reopening itself was already fragile: on Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted another wave of missiles and drones, and Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree vowed the facility would "never be safe" and urged airlines, airport staff and travellers not to use it, Reuters reported in its reopening story. For Indian and Punjabi workers in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf — and families in Punjab waiting on their flights home — the Cirium numbers explain why bookings through Riyadh remain uncertain even after the formal reopening.