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Reuters reported that a commercial Saudia aircraft caught fire and sustained heavy damage while parked at a terminal in King Khalid International Airport. Three people briefed on the matter attributed the incident to shrapnel from a missile interception or a direct projectile strike, adding that the plane was believed empty of passengers although injuries could not be ruled out. Saudi Arabia’s government media office, civil aviation authority and Saudia itself did not respond to requests for comment on the event. A verified video showed a thick column of black smoke and flames rising from the airport area where fire and ambulance crews were deployed.
Cirium aviation analytics data placed the scale of disruption at 169 of 378 scheduled departures from Riyadh cancelled or listed as not operating by late afternoon, equivalent to 44.7 percent of the day’s total. The firm recorded 124 of 369 inbound flights affected in the same period for a 33.6 percent cancellation rate with nearly 40 percent of all scheduled flights at the airport disrupted overall. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 indicated the facility had seen no landings or takeoffs for more than an hour at one stage during the afternoon.
Saudia bore the heaviest impact among carriers with 97 of its 140 scheduled departures from Riyadh cancelled or not operating, a rate of 69.3 percent, while 87 of 136 arrivals or 64 percent were similarly affected. Saudi budget airlines flynas and flyadeal saw 33 percent and 37 percent of their departures cancelled respectively according to the Cirium figures. Taken together the three Saudi carriers accounted for 87 percent of all cancelled departures from the airport on the day.
Lufthansa Group told Reuters it would suspend all flights to Riyadh through October 16 because of current developments in the Middle East. Air India cancelled services to and from the capital until October 10 while IndiGo halted operations until October 9 and Akasa Air took similar action. Philippine Airlines suspended flights until at least October 11 and Egyptair was among other carriers that cancelled dozens of services to the city.
The Iran-aligned Houthis claimed they had struck the airport with a ballistic missile and warned airlines away from Saudi airspace while separately threatening energy facilities. Saudi officials stated that three people had been killed with dozens more injured in Houthi attacks this week including an incident in which debris from an intercepted missile hit a kindergarten and medical complex in Riyadh. A witness who spoke on condition of anonymity described smoke visible over the airport following the blasts.
The events mark an escalation in Houthi strikes on Saudi targets amid the group’s alignment with Iran and ongoing regional tensions. Data from Cirium additionally projected 31 more cancellations across Saudi airports on October 9 as the ripple effects continued. Saudi authorities have faced repeated Houthi claims of attacks on civilian infrastructure in recent days.
