Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport (RUH) was attacked for a second time in just two days. On Thursday, October 8, 2026, we saw a Saudia Airbus A320 destroyed at the airport, based on an attack by the Houthis. Then just two days later, on Saturday, October 10, we saw a much worse attack on the airport, which killed 12 people, and injured hundreds.
I have to imagine that we’re getting to the point where global travel demand is shifting, and it’s not going to be good for Gulf carriers…
Houthis carry out massive attack on Riyadh Airport
On Saturday, October 10, 2026, the Houthis successfully bombed Riyadh Airport, killing at least 12 people, and injuring at least 309 people. This is of course an absolutely massive attack — my thoughts are with those who lost their lives and their families, and may those who were injured make a quick recovery.
This has been the deadliest terror attack in Saudi Arabia in over a decade, since 2015. The Houthis are targeting Saudi Arabia over the country’s support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war. Saudi Arabia has called the attack a war crime.
Also on Saturday, we saw a projectile fall near Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport (DMM). As mentioned above, this all follows the October 8 attack on Riyadh Airport, which killed three people, plus the attacks on Saudi airports on October 6 and October 7, which also killed three people.
Are we reaching a turning point for Middle East travel?
It goes without saying that this has been a really rough year for airlines in the Gulf region, given the war between the United States and Iran, and the impact that has had on geopolitics in the region.
Earlier this year we saw attacks at Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH), Dubai Airport (DXB), Kuwait Airport (KWI), etc. Obviously this greatly impacted peoples’ willingness to travel through the region. But if you ask me, things have gotten significantly worse in recent times:
- We saw a flydubai pilot try to commit a terrorist attack with a plane, and fly it into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV)
- We’ve now seen Saudi Arabian airports attacked over and over, leading to nearly 20 deaths, plus hundreds of injuries
When it comes to airlines in the Gulf region, historically they’ve succeeded in part because:
- They have hubs with great geography for connecting large population centers
- They’ve historically offered an amazing passenger experience, among the best in the world
- The Gulf hubs have largely been “artificially” safe for a long time, which is to say that they’re surrounded by some of the least stable countries and governments in the world, but through strategic alignment, they’ve been able to avoid too many issues
When you combine all the factors we’ve seen in recent times, I think carriers from the region are in deep trouble. I’ve gladly flown through Gulf carriers earlier in the year, and I can say with certainty that I of course wouldn’t be comfortable flying through Riyadh right now, and I’d also avoid other Gulf hubs.
I’m not even saying that in terms of the risk of possibly dying in an attack, but more just about peace of mind, not subjecting myself to operational issues, etc. Until things change materially, I won’t be traveling through the region. Period. And unfortunately I don’t expect things will change any time soon — once things start to unravel like this, it’s really hard to just go back to how things were.
I’m just in disbelief that Delta still claims it’s launching a route from Atlanta (ATL) to Riyadh in two weeks. Obviously that route isn’t going to launch at this point, and not even because demand for this flight has been virtually non-existent.
It sure seems like Delta and the Saudi Arabian government may be in some sort of a standoff regarding subsidies for the service, or something, where Delta wants the government to tell them not to launch the route, rather than Delta doing it proactively. I’m not sure if the agreement for subsidies works out differently based on who calls off the service, or what’s going on.
It’s the only explanation I can come up with when the airline still claims it’s moving forward with this. At this point, there’s no way Delta’s aircraft insurers or unions would allow this service to launch.
Bottom line
On Saturday, Riyadh Airport was attacked yet again, and in this case, it was the deadliest terror attack in the country since 2015. At least 12 people have died, and over 300 people have been injured, as the Houthis successfully struck the airport.
My thoughts are with those who lost their lives and their families. I also hope that those who have been injured make a quick recovery.
I unfortunately think we’re entering a new era of unrest in the Gulf region, and between this, the attacks we’ve seen on other airports, and even a flydubai pilot trying to commit a terror attack, I think many people will think twice about traveling through the region. When you combine all of these factors, I know I certainly will.
What do you make of this latest Riyadh attack, and the overall impact this will have on air travel demand through the region?
The loss of life is tragic. However, I am glad Saudis are experiencing the same pain they have given othersfor the last many decades. UAE and Qatar also needs to feel this pain (without the loss of life).
Chickens are coming home to roost.
all of the Middle East has been embroiled in factional fighting for millenia.
Aviation is the casualty along w/ oil because both are very high profile and have enormous global impact.
Add in that current defense systems including drones are not effective in stopping all of this madness and this is a moment in time that some parties will seize for their purposes.
regardless of faith, we need this madness to end for the sake of humanity.
Can we also just all take a step back and spend 60-90 seconds laughing out loud at how bad Saudi's military is? They bought tens of billions of dollars of cutting edge U.S. military equipment and are still unable to contain a bunch of 8-century orcs with DIY rockets. But then again, it's not a dissident of their own in their embassy in Istanbul. Long past time they ask Israel for help.
Perhaps the first time in my life when "I was supposed to be there." Was a mouse click away on Thursday from booking Saudia's JFK-DXB for Friday with a Saturday layover in Riyadh. Decided against it cause I thought it may get delayed and not get me to Dubai in time.
My sister-in-law flew to LHR via AUH. She showed me some photos of her flight on the A380 -seemed rather full, at least in Y.
Houthis aren't making friends anywhere. Even Turkey and Pakistan are getting in on the action due to their "defense pact" with Saudi Arabia.
I guess we'll see what the future holds.
Horrible. This is both shocking and predictable. The attack at RUH just a few days earlier (3 dead), and now this (12 dead, 300 injured). Compared to KWI in June (1 dead) these are worse. The region is not safe or well. I’m glad Ben did not experience this when he traveled; I would not fly through there anytime soon.
While there have been several attacks in Saudi Arabia at airports and military air bases this week President Trump has already announced a ceasefire until after the elections (which are about three weeks away ) Repercussions towards Iran and their Houthi terrorists are imminent. You’ll be traveling safely in the Middle East for many years to come.
Hahaha.
I'm quite surprised to see Emirates flights to Europe are still flying through Saudi airspace when the Houthi have threatened all aircraft using Saudi airspace.
They’re running out of options. Saudi airspace was supposed to be the safer option, further away from Iran; but, now, Iran’s proxies (Houthis) are increasingly making that more difficult. (Then again, traveling at +500mph, +30,000ft is quite different than a sitting duck at an airport.) Maybe, if it became bad enough, EK and others could route via Indian Ocean/E. Africa, or the Stans/Caucasus/Turkey, but each is far longer and has its own safety concerns, much...
They’re running out of options. Saudi airspace was supposed to be the safer option, further away from Iran; but, now, Iran’s proxies (Houthis) are increasingly making that more difficult. (Then again, traveling at +500mph, +30,000ft is quite different than a sitting duck at an airport.) Maybe, if it became bad enough, EK and others could route via Indian Ocean/E. Africa, or the Stans/Caucasus/Turkey, but each is far longer and has its own safety concerns, much less financial considerations. However, if there’s another MH17, it’s gonna chill the ME airline business for a while. (Malaysia Airlines never really recovered their international long-haul after that and MH370.)
It is sad to see that aviation has been the terror method of choice on both sides of the Arabian peninsula with the outcome that Riyadh Air's desire to copy the ME3 is very uncertain.
Add in that warfare has changed so that typical defense systems, of which many of the countries have plenty of, don't work near as effectively as even attacks just a few months ago on the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain etc.
The DL route is by far the least casualty in all of this.
Using Tim logic, Southwest is by far less casualty than Delta.
Try harder Tim.
So long as E. Asia stays calm… *gulp* …that’s really the best idea for Delta (more TPAC); postpone indefinitely this RUH idea, regardless of subsidies and upsetting MBS personally (he’s got bigger fish to fry when his airport is getting attacked nearly every other day…)
So basically greedy Delta (hat tip to Tim Dunn on how profitable they are) are jeopardizing employee and customer lives over subsidies.
Explains a lot on the motivation behind their profitability in that past and moving forward.
Ed needs to go.
seriously?
just because they haven't informed you doesn't mean they are putting anyone's life in danger.
The route is most certainly not moving forward which just means they have more aircraft for what was certain to already be a fairly aggressive TPAC expansion for 2027 thru 2029 with the arrival of the 35Ks.
Tim you're the last person on earth who is qualified to use "seriously?"
If they're not going to fly when safety is really top priority, they would have called off the flight 2 days ago and think about what next later.
And by the way, seriously?
35Ks are irrelevant here.
You're doing it again Tim.
yes, seriously
Wheh you display no common sense on the subject because you'd rather throw dirt, you make a fool out of yourself.
DL is a US flag carrier and is not free to fly just where it wants. The State Dept. has issued a level 3 travel alert for RUH.
US airlines have a long history of planning travel to/from the Middle East including Israel only to have to cancel it at the...
yes, seriously
Wheh you display no common sense on the subject because you'd rather throw dirt, you make a fool out of yourself.
DL is a US flag carrier and is not free to fly just where it wants. The State Dept. has issued a level 3 travel alert for RUH.
US airlines have a long history of planning travel to/from the Middle East including Israel only to have to cancel it at the last minute.
Terror attacks are not planned so airlines have to pivot and they do.
and, yes, DL's aggressive TPAC growth means they have a list of new routes where they are ready to deploy new aircraft.
and the earnings which you mock are precisely because they have managed capacity very carefully in the midst of an inability to raise fares high enough to cover all of the increase in fuel prices. DL's capacity growth came totally on its TPAC network in Q3 and that is very likely what they intend to do going forward.
and the refinery is expected to lower DL's fuel bill by 40 cents/gallon in the 4th quarter which would be the biggest benefit since the latest middle east mess began -and that is before the profits of the refinery itself for selling non-jet fuel products. West coast heavy carriers including AS and UA simply are helpless to compete against DL right now.
DL is by far the best positioned to sustain the current very unstable and high fuel cost environment but to use the current situation to grow where DL has focused its strategic efforts which is the west coast and TPAC.
and, as much as you or others want to deny it, this whole situation could very well to the "thinning of the herd" that major macroeconomic events like this often lead to; DL is by far best positioned to lead there as well.
If they force crews to fly there, I will agree. But the normal way high risk destinations are handled across the world is that you offer people extra money to fly to such places and look for volunteers. If such model was adopted, I don't see any problems with this. Baghdad operations were also quite crazy at times and LHG pulled it off without forcing anyone who didn't want to fly there.
The subsidies (and/or hazard pay) just aren’t worth it, here. Besides, they could barely sell the tickets, even before these recent attacks. Ed needs to take the helm, correct course, redirect these a350s for more TPAC. Find ways to fly a few more routes to TYO instead. Tokyo is still a money-printing-machine for airlines!
1990,
DL had flights to CAI and AMM on 9/10/01; they are more than capable of pulling down operations in the face of terror.
this same type of scenario has played out to/from TLV multiple times since as well as DXB and DOH for US carriers.
This week will mark when DL flights to RUH move from schedule change to cxld; they will undoubtedly make an announcement to postpone next week.
and...
1990,
DL had flights to CAI and AMM on 9/10/01; they are more than capable of pulling down operations in the face of terror.
this same type of scenario has played out to/from TLV multiple times since as well as DXB and DOH for US carriers.
This week will mark when DL flights to RUH move from schedule change to cxld; they will undoubtedly make an announcement to postpone next week.
and if the flights are as lightly booked as some say, there will be relatively few passengers to move esp. since many will cancel their travels if they haven't already.
DL's start of ATL-RUH was early considering the buildout of RUH by RX; if, and it is a big if, the security situation can be stabilized on the Arabian peninsula - all of it - then all of AA, DL and UA can think about serving the region again.
and, the most likely next TPAC route that DL would have announced - regardless of what happens w/ RUH - would have been SIN so an announcement could well happen this week as well for a summer 2027 start.