Riyadh Airport Closed Until Saturday After Missile Attacks

King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh closed under an official notice to air missions until Saturday, October 17, after a week of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the Saudi capital's main air hub. Across four attacks on the airport in a week, 18 people were killed and more than 300 wounded, according to Reuters reporting on the strikes.

The closure all but emptied the airport. Cirium data cited in the show's coverage put Sunday's cancellations at 99.7 per cent of scheduled flights, with roughly 60 per cent of Monday's flights expected to be cancelled. Lufthansa suspended Riyadh flights until Friday, Air France-KLM until the end of October, and Philippine Airlines until late November; Delta Air Lines delayed the launch of its Atlanta–Riyadh route until March 2027. Etihad later extended its Riyadh cancellations through October 19, and Cebu Pacific through October 31.

The attacks kept coming after the closure. On Tuesday, debris from two intercepted cruise missiles fell on residential parts of Riyadh, injuring four people and damaging 15 homes, Saudi Civil Defense said. On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed another ballistic missile launched toward the capital; civil defence alerts were issued for Riyadh and Al-Kharj before the all-clear, with no casualties reported from that interception.

Reuters has also reported that Saudi Arabia's public attack-warning system stayed silent in the days before the deadly airport strikes, and that the government has not explained why.

The Houthis in Yemen claimed the airport attacks and vowed more. The Saudi-led coalition struck back inside Yemen, hitting sites in Sanaa, Hodeidah and Dhamar on Tuesday evening, including the Yemen Petroleum Company's al-Sabaha facility in the capital, Sanaa.