Riyadh Airport Flight Cancellations Pass 300 After Houthi Strikes

Saudi Arabia's capital airport loses its timetable

Houthi missile and drone attacks on King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh caused one of the worst days for flight cancellations a major Gulf hub has had in years. Within about a day of the strikes, international airlines were also suspending services to the Saudi capital. By late Thursday, 8 October, flight-tracking data showed about 330 cancelled flights at the airport, roughly 41% of its schedule, plus about 203 delayed flights5. Aviation Week, citing Flightradar24, put the total at 335 cancellations that day.

The disruption followed a run of attacks. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said Houthi strikes on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International on 6 and 7 October killed three people and injured 364. On 8 October the Houthis said a ballistic missile had again hit the Riyadh airport. They also issued what they called a final warning to "all global airlines" about flying in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theatre for their military operations.

The main point for travellers is that this is no longer a one-day closure. Airlines are now taking Riyadh off their schedules, and those decisions are likely to outlast any individual alert.

How the numbers grew during the day

Cancellation counts differ widely between outlets. Mostly, that is because they were taken at different times on a fast-changing day, not because the reports contradict each other.

Early Thursday the problems looked manageable. Flightradar24 showed 58 delayed departures (15% of the schedule) and 11 cancellations (3%), with an average departure delay of 45 minutes and a disruption index of 4.2 out of five1. Named flights affected that morning included Saudia's SV311 to Cairo, delayed more than two hours, and Yemenia's IY533 to Aden, delayed more than three hours. Saudia's SV562 to Dubai and Turkish Airlines' TK145 to Istanbul were cancelled1.

By 12:17pm Saudi time, delayed departures had risen to 114 (29% of services) and cancellations to 204. By 4pm, reported cancelled departures had passed 1509. Data from analytics firm Cirium then showed 169 of 378 scheduled departures and 124 of 369 scheduled arrivals cancelled or not operating. That is 293 flights, about 39% of the airport's planned operations7. The Straits Times, also citing Cirium, rounded this to about 300 cancellations on 8 October2. India Today, citing Flightradar24, reported more than 330, or 45% of scheduled arrivals and departures3.

The morning figures, which several travel outlets reported widely, badly understated how bad the day became. Anyone who checked a flight tracker at breakfast and decided things were under control would have been caught out by the afternoon.

Saudia takes the biggest hit

The Saudi carriers based at RUH absorbed most of the damage, not foreign airlines. Cirium figures showed Saudia cancelling or not operating 97 of its 140 scheduled departures and 87 of 136 arrivals7. Budget carriers were also affected: about a third of Flynas departures and 37% of Flyadeal services were reportedly disrupted11. The Straits Times also said most of the disruption fell on Saudia and Flynas2.

Riyadh Air, the new national carrier, was affected far less. Two of its 15 departures were cancelled or did not operate, about 13%7. Because Riyadh Air is building its whole business model around RUH as a global connecting hub, one industry outlet argued it could become the biggest long-term casualty of the crisis even though its cancellation numbers on the day were low5. That is a reasonable concern. A hub strategy relies on reliable connections, and nothing undermines that faster than a capital airport that keeps closing because of missile threats.

The burned-out Saudia aircraft makes the risk concrete. Images from 8 October showed a Saudia narrowbody, widely identified as an Airbus A320, gutted by fire at a terminal gate. No one was believed to be on board16. Accounts of what hit it differ. The Houthis say their missile struck its target precisely, while sources briefed on the incident told Reuters the damage may have come from shrapnel from an interception or another projectile16. GACA had not confirmed the 8 October strike. Whatever caused it, a parked airliner was destroyed at the kingdom's capital airport.

Foreign airlines pull out

The longer-lasting effect comes from foreign carriers withdrawing:

• Lufthansa Group suspended Riyadh flights until 16 October, one of the longest announced pauses7.
• Air India and Air India Express cancelled Riyadh flights until 10 October. An Air India Delhi–Riyadh flight, AI2243, turned back to Delhi and was then cancelled3.
• IndiGo cancelled Riyadh flights until 9 October, and Akasa Air cancelled its Kochi–Riyadh services and later extended the suspension through 10 October7.
• Philippine Airlines stopped flights to the city until at least 11 October, and EgyptAir also halted services2.
• Turkish Airlines cancelled all four of its scheduled Riyadh departures and arrivals in the Cirium data7.
• In the UAE, flydubai cancelled flights FZ855 and FZ856, and Etihad reported an extended delay on EY555 and its return flight EY556 because of the airport closure10.
• Air France, KLM and Cathay Pacific were reported to have cut services, without confirmed restart dates7. Cathay had already extended cancellations to Dubai and Riyadh until 31 January2.

The most notable long-term decision came from Singapore Airlines, which postponed its planned launch of Riyadh flights to 28 March2. A short suspension is a reaction to immediate danger. Moving a new route back by several months shows how an airline expects the risk to develop. Singapore Airlines and Cathay have both made schedule decisions that run months ahead, which suggests at least some major carriers do not expect the problem to clear quickly.

The restart dates for Indian carriers, mostly 9 to 10 October, should be read with caution. One outlet noted that every announced restart date depends on further security assessments7. Given the Houthis' explicit warning to airlines, they could easily be pushed back.

What it looked like inside the terminal

There is little reporting on security queues or check-in waits at RUH, and no outlet has published processing-time figures. What has been reported points to a more serious problem than long queues. After the blasts on 8 October, one witness said outgoing flights were halted and passengers were told to leave checked bags behind and evacuate. Flightradar24 reported that the airport had "closed again" shortly after the explosions. Outlets differ on how long the closures lasted: one said flights were suspended for more than an hour on Wednesday1, and another said the airport closed for about two hours on Thursday morning before reopening16. Over several days, operations at RUH stopped and restarted repeatedly2.

For passengers, these repeated closures cause more harm than any single queue. Each closure leaves aircraft and crews out of position, which is why the delays recorded in the morning turned into mass cancellations by the afternoon. The airport itself told travellers it was essential to contact their airlines before setting out8. The US Embassy in Riyadh warned citizens to expect possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruption, and to check flight status directly with airlines and the airport12.

Disruption also spread beyond the airport. Debris from an intercepted ballistic missile damaged a kindergarten and medical clinic complex in Riyadh2. Several multinational companies in the King Abdullah Financial District told staff to work from home after explosions were heard3.

Where the reports disagree

Aside from the cancellation totals, outlets also differ on casualties. GACA's count of three dead and 36 injured covers the 6–7 October attacks: two killed and 28 injured at Abha, and one killed and eight injured at Riyadh. Reports give different nationalities for the two people killed at Abha. France 24 said they were Egyptian and Algerian14, while other outlets said they were Moroccan and Algerian women11. Separately, Euronews reported that Houthi missile strikes on the Riyadh airport had killed three people including an airline captain8. That account does not clearly match GACA's earlier figures and should be treated as unconfirmed until the Saudi authorities publish a full count.

A conflict that has been building since September

The attacks did not come without warning. In July, the Houthis announced a ban on Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandab Strait17. On 19–20 September, a Houthi attack on Riyadh set fire to fuel storage near the airport and delayed flights, after the city's first aerial threat alert of the escalation1718. Since early September, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have been close to daily2. The Houthis say they are targeting the kingdom over its backing for Yemen's government forces, and the Saudi-led coalition and allied Yemeni forces have launched a major ground and air offensive.

King Khalid International is Saudi Arabia's second-busiest airport and the main hub for Riyadh Air and Saudia18. The current situation is that the Houthis have shown they can repeatedly shut RUH and have said they will keep targeting aviation, while airlines are deciding schedules by the week or the month. Travellers with Riyadh bookings should plan for more cancellations through mid-October at least, check their flight status directly with the airline before leaving for the airport, and make sure any connection through RUH leaves plenty of time to recover from a delay.