How Houthi attacks have grounded flights across Saudi Arabia
FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!
StreetInsider.com Top Tickers, 10/26/2026
- Wall St rises as Anthropic's IPO filing sharpens focus on AI trade
- Anthropic files for Nasdaq IPO as revenue jumps to $16.3 billion
- Meta reverses losses to rise as investors weigh $35 billion AI funding plan
- Post-election relief ahead for markets, says Morgan Stanley
- Musk says SpaceX raised $40 billion in debt, warns of neocloud collapse
Tweet
Share
E-mail
FILE PHOTO: Large plume of black smoke rises from the fuel storage area at King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 19, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
By Gianluca Lo Nostro
Oct 26 (Reuters) - Attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have nearly emptied the skies over Riyadh this month, aviation data showed on Monday, with cancellations grounding almost nine out of every 10 scheduled flights at the Saudi capital's airport.
About 86% of scheduled flights at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, or 4,071 out of 4,736, were cancelled between October 8 and October 25, according to the latest data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The Houthis have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia this month, targeting airports, ports and oil facilities with ballistic missiles and drones. Riyadh's airport, the kingdom's second-busiest after Jeddah, has been struck repeatedly, including an attack on October 10 that killed 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
Saudi authorities partially reopened the airport on Sunday after a halt that had started on October 10. Domestic flights resumed from Terminal 1, while national carriers were allowed to operate international services from Terminal 2.
However, the Houthis said they had attacked Riyadh's airport again on Monday, calling it a "military target." The attacks have prompted international airlines to suspend services to the Saudi capital into November, while Delta Air Lines has postponed the launch of its Riyadh route until next year.
The disruption has forced several events in Riyadh to be cancelled or postponed, including Saudi Arabia's marquee investment conference, as flight cancellations hamper travel to and across the kingdom.
The upheaval also spread beyond the Saudi capital. More than 7,800 flights, or 45% of all scheduled departures from Saudi airports, were cancelled between October 8 and October 25, according to Cirium. The peak came on October 12, when cancellations exceeded 60% of scheduled flights nationwide.
Several major airports recorded severe disruption, including Riyadh at 86%, Dammam at 42% and Abha at 46.7%, where the Houthis have claimed strikes. A number of smaller regional airports saw the vast majority of flights cancelled, including Najran, near the Yemeni border, where all flights were cancelled.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Additional reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Xevi Fontdegloria)
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Slovakia to develop Russia ties in areas not hit by sanctions, minister says after Moscow talks
- China says it opposes US 'stigmatisation' of Confucius Institutes after Pentagon labels them security threat
- ASML may account for up to 1.6% of Dutch economy in 2026, ING says
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
ReutersSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
