Riyadh airport shutdown extended after deadly Houthi attacks

Summary

• Saudi Arabia has extended the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh following deadly attacks blamed on Yemen’s Houthi movement that killed 13 people on Saturday and injured more than 300.
• The Saudi civil aviation authority said the airport would remain closed to allow officials to complete safety checks and ensure that its facilities were ready to resume operations.
• The disruption has also affected international connections, with airlines across Europe and Asia suspending services to Saudi Arabia.

AI Generated Summary

Saudi Arabia has extended the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh following deadly attacks blamed on Yemen’s Houthi movement that killed 13 people on Saturday and injured more than 300. A separate attack on Sunday killed a Pakistani national and left nearly a dozen others injured, further escalating security concerns across the kingdom.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said the airport would remain closed to allow officials to complete safety checks and ensure that its facilities were ready to resume operations. The shutdown has disrupted air travel across the region, affecting thousands of passengers and forcing several international airlines to revise their schedules.

King Khalid International Airport, the country’s second-busiest airport after Jeddah, experienced an almost complete halt in scheduled flights on Sunday. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that 99.7 per cent of scheduled services were cancelled, while flight-tracking data showed no aircraft flying over Riyadh.