34% of Saudi Flights Canceled as Foreign Carriers Stay Out

Saudi carriers resumed flights from Riyadh's reopened King Khalid International Airport on Monday, but 322 of 941 scheduled departures from the kingdom — 34% — were canceled or did not fly, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. The figure marks an improvement from Sunday, when more than half of scheduled flights in Saudi Arabia were grounded.

The disruption stems from continued attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. An attack on King Khalid International on October 10 killed 12 people and injured more, triggering a week-long airport shutdown. The hub reopened Sunday, but foreign airlines have not followed the Saudi operators back.

King Khalid International recorded the highest cancellation rate in the kingdom on Monday at 66%, Cirium data showed. Abha followed at 48%, Dammam at 31%, and Jeddah at 15%.

Which airlines are flying, and which are not?

Saudia, Flynas, Riyadh Air, and Flyadeal restored service at the reopened Riyadh airport. The Gulf's major international carriers did not.

• flydubai, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways extended flight suspensions to Riyadh, Dammam, and Abha through October 24.
• Qatar Airways cut Jeddah capacity from seven daily flights to four.
• The U.S. Embassy issued a security alert warning of missile and drone attacks and further airport closures.

The split matters for distribution. Saudi carriers regain schedule dominance on key routes while foreign carriers hold back, and intermediaries selling Saudi travel face shrinking international inventory through late October.

What happens to Riyadh's Q4 events calendar?

The disruption has reached the kingdom's events-led fourth quarter, the pillar of its business travel and hospitality strategy:

• The Future Investment Initiative, Riyadh's flagship investment conference, has been postponed to next year.
• The EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit, scheduled for October 24 in Riyadh, was postponed with no new date set.
• The Six Kings Slam tennis tournament moved to December.

Hotels are already reporting cancellations, and spending tied to MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) business is being lost with each postponement. Every event pushed off the calendar removes a block of high-yield corporate demand that Riyadh's hotel market had built its Q4 revenue projections around.

The longer foreign carriers stay out, the more Riyadh's events-led fourth quarter risks becoming a lost quarter for hotels and for business, sporting, and leisure events alike.

Will Saudi and Gulf carriers fill the gap?

Andrew Charlton of Aviation Advisacy-consultancy Aviation Advocacy told Skift: if non-Saudi airlines stay away, Saudi and Gulf carriers will expand to fill the space. The open question, he said, is whether demand holds as attacks continue.

That is the variable sellers of Saudi travel now face: capacity can be replaced within the region in weeks, but corporate and event demand — the segment that pays the rates — takes longer to win back once organizers redirect to other venues.