Authorities have extended the closure of Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport until October 17, and airlines have cancelled flights as continuing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis emptied the skies over the Saudi capital.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said operations were suspended to ensure the safety and readiness of the airport’s facilities.
A Notice to Airmen issued later showed the airport will remain closed until 2100 GMT on October 17.
The airport has been shut since an attack on Saturday that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, making it the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. A second attack on Sunday killed one person and injured nearly a dozen others.
The disruption has raised fresh concerns over civil aviation becoming a target in armed conflict.
“This level of sustained intense attack on civil aviation is unprecedented,” said Mark Zee, founder of the aviation safety group OPSGROUP.
Air traffic tracker Flightradar24 showed planes avoiding the city on Monday, although jets were crossing Saudi airspace and landing at the Jeddah hub on the west coast.
Cancellations across all Saudi airports reached 46.4 percent, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The crisis has forced airlines across Europe and Asia to suspend services, while the United States Federal Aviation Administration advised US carriers to exercise caution when flying to or over Saudi Arabia.
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all flights to Riyadh until October 16, while Air France-KLM has suspended services to and from the city until the end of the month. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has also extended cancellations.
Delta Air Lines said it is delaying planned services from Atlanta to Riyadh, initially due to start on October 23, until March 2027.
The attacks mark one of the most significant disruptions to Saudi aviation in years and have added to pressures on an industry already grappling with conflict across the Middle East and rising jet fuel prices.
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