Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport remained closed on Monday and most of its flights were cancelled, after weekend attacks by Yemen's Houthis killed 13 people on Saturday and one more person on Sunday, Reuters reported. Aviation analytics firm Cirium put Monday cancellations at about 60% of scheduled flights in the figures cited at the top of the Reuters report, while flight-tracking site Flightradar24 estimated cancellations at Riyadh airport itself at about 78%. On Monday morning local time, Flightradar24 showed no movement at the airport, CNN reported.
How extensive is the disruption to Saudi flights?
Cirium data showed the airport cancelled 99.7% of all scheduled flights on Sunday, Reuters reported. More than a third of flights scheduled across Saudi Arabia as a whole were not expected to operate on Monday. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said the airport would remain closed on Monday, with several hundred flights cancelled, CNN reported.
Reuters described the attacks as one of the most significant disruptions to Saudi civil aviation in years, forcing airlines across Europe and Asia to suspend services. The US Federal Aviation Administration told US airlines on Sunday to exercise caution when flying to or over Saudi Arabia.
Which airlines have extended their suspensions?
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all flights to Riyadh until October 16, Reuters reported. Air France-KLM has extended a previous suspension of services to and from the Saudi capital until the end of the month. Those extensions take the disruption well beyond Monday's closure, even if the airport itself reopens sooner.
The weekend toll behind the shutdown is unchanged from Sunday's reporting: Saturday's strike killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, and Sunday's projectile strike on a terminal killed a Pakistani resident and injured 11 others, according to Saudi authorities cited by Reuters and CNN. The Houthis have claimed responsibility for the attacks, CNN reported, and have warned airlines and travellers against using Saudi airports other than Mecca and Medina.
What happens next?
No reopening time for the airport on Monday had been reported in the sources opened for this article, and no new strike on the airport on Monday had been reported at publication time. The practical question for travellers is now the airline suspensions: with two major European groups out until mid- and late October, normal service to the Saudi capital will not resume immediately even after the airport reopens.
The cancellation percentages are Cirium and Flightradar24 figures as reported by Reuters on Monday; the two firms' estimates differ and are reported separately above rather than merged into a single figure. The airport's Monday closure was also reported by CNN, citing Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority. This is not financial advice.
