Authorities have extended the closure of Riyadh’s international airport until Saturday and airlines scrapped flights after continuing attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis emptied the skies over Saudi Arabia’s capital.
Operations at King Khalid International Airport, Saudi Arabia’s second-busiest airport after Jeddah, were suspended to “allow for the completion of procedures to ensure the safety and operational readiness of the airport’s facilities”, the Saudi civil aviation authority said in a statement.
Late on Monday, the Houthis said they had attacked the airport with a ballistic missile, shortly after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the group towards Riyadh.
The Houthis also said in a statement that they targeted an airbase in Khamis Mushait in the kingdom’s southwest with a drone. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation.
A Notice to Airmen issued on Monday showed King Khalid International Airport will stay 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, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. On Sunday, another attack killed one person and injured nearly a dozen others.
The attacks marked one of the most significant disruptions to Saudi aviation in years, adding to pressures on an industry already grappling with conflict across the Middle East and with higher jet fuel prices that are eating into profits.
They have also raised worries 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 OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that provides aviation safety advice.
“I think this requires us to rethink how we view the current risk picture, and tread very carefully,” he said.
Air traffic tracker Flightradar24 showed planes avoiding the city on Monday, though jets were crossing Saudi airspace and landing at top hub Jeddah on the country’s west coast.
