Oct 12 (Reuters) – The skies over the Saudi capital Riyadh were virtually empty on Monday as authorities extended the suspension of operations at the city’s international airport after deadly weekend attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.
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.
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.
The airport cancelled 82% of all scheduled flights on Monday as of 1200 GMT, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, which said the final number may be higher. Cancellations across all Saudi airports reached 46.4%, Cirium said.
An air traffic tracker from 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.
CRISIS OVERSHADOWS SAUDI BUSINESS OUTLOOK
The disruption has forced airlines across Europe and Asia to suspend services, while the Federal Aviation Administration advised US carriers on Sunday to exercise caution when flying to or over Saudi Arabia. EU aviation body EASA widened a Saudi airspace warning on Friday, citing missile and drone attacks.
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all flights to Riyadh until October 16, while Air France-KLM has extended a previous suspension of services to and from the Saudi capital until the end of the month.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways was among the airlines that further extended Saudi flight cancellations, affecting around 20 flights to Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam on Monday and Tuesday.
The escalation with the Houthis has raised concerns over the broader economic impact. Saudi Arabia’s real GDP is projected to contract by 3.6% this year, reflecting a combination of factors including lower oil activity.
The attacks have put events scheduled in Riyadh this month under pressure, including the kingdom’s flagship investment conference and the WPC Energy Congress, where several top oil executives were dropped from the programme.
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska in London, Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk, Federico Maccioni in Dubai and Menna Alaa El Din in Cairo; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Aidan Lewis)
