Key Takeaways
- Saudi authorities extended the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
- The closure follows deadly attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, which killed 13 people and injured over 300.
- Airlines across Europe and Asia have suspended services to the Saudi capital, affecting thousands of flights.
Saudi authorities have announced the extension of the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, following a series of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.
The airport, which is the second-busiest in Saudi Arabia after Jeddah, has been shut down since an attack on Saturday that claimed 13 lives and injured more than 300 people, marking the deadliest incident in the kingdom in over a decade.
On Sunday, another attack resulted in the death of one Pakistani national and injuries to nearly a dozen others, further disrupting the airport’s operations.
The closure has had a significant impact on global aviation, with airlines such as Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM, and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways cancelling or extending their flight cancellations to and from Riyadh.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, 99.7 per cent of scheduled flights were cancelled on Sunday, with no planes visible over the city as reported by air traffic tracker Flightradar24.
The attacks have also affected major events scheduled in Riyadh, including the kingdom’s flagship investment conference and the WPC Energy Congress, where several top oil executives were dropped from the programme.
The economic impact of the attacks is significant, with Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product projected to contract by 3.6 per cent this year, reflecting a combination of factors including lower oil activity.
The escalation with the Houthis has raised concerns over the broader economic and operational pressures on the Saudi aviation industry, which is already grappling with conflict across the Middle East.
