An attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 12 people and injured 309, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said on October 11.
It is the deadliest of a series of strikes on Saudi airports this week, and it shut the capital’s main hub two days after it had reopened following earlier attacks. Flight tracker Flightradar24 showed 271 departures cancelled by 5:34am Saudi time on October 11, 73% of the airport’s listed departures, and FlightAware counted at least 291 Riyadh cancellations over 24 hours. The airport is the base for Saudia, flynas and Riyadh Air, and Air India, flydubai, the Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines had already suspended Saudi services before the latest strike.
GACA said it had temporarily suspended operations at the airport after the attack on the afternoon of October 10 while it assessed the damage and verified the safety of its facilities, in coordination with the relevant authorities. It gave no reopening date and said it would announce updates. An air traffic control source told Russian news agency TASS the airport was expected to stay closed to arrivals and departures until about the end of October 11.
The dead were four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, and one person each from the US, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan, GACA said. Some of the injured are in critical condition.
Kuwait Airways, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways cancelled Riyadh flights after the closure, and incoming aircraft were diverted or cancelled. Saudi authorities advised travellers to check directly with their airlines before travelling to the airport. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace.
Coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki Al-Maliki said a projectile also fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam hours after the Riyadh attack. Saudi authorities and the Saudi-led coalition have blamed Yemen’s Houthis for the week’s attacks on Saudi airports.
Earlier this week, attacks on Abha International Airport on October 6 and King Khalid on October 7 killed three people. Two further attacks on Riyadh on October 8 killed two Saudi nationals and, after a Saudia aircraft was hit on the ground, the pilot, Capt Hamoud Ali AlKalthami.