It has been a rough few weeks for Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH), as the airport has been bombed by the Houthis multiple times, leading to at least 15 fatalities and over 300 injuries, which is absolutely tragic. Beyond that, we’ve seen an incredible amount of damage, including a Saudia Airbus A320 being destroyed, and several other planes being damaged.
As you’d expect, this has impacted operations at the airport, as they remained suspended for some time, and have only resumed in a limited capacity for cargo aircraft. Along those lines, airline startup Riyadh Air is taking an interesting approach to resuming operations, and is setting up a temporarily hub elsewhere.
Riyadh Air moves flights from Riyadh to Al Qassim
Riyadh Air has suspended its operations in recent weeks, as the airline has moved its planes out of Riyadh, following reports of at least one of the carrier’s brand new Dreamliners being damaged. The airline now plans to resume operations, though with a twist.
As of October 25, 2026, Riyadh Air intends to resume flights out of Al Qassim Airport (ELQ), located around 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Riyadh. Specifically, the airline will initially resume flights to Cairo (CAI), Dhaka (DAC), Islamabad (ISB), Jeddah (JED), London Heathrow (LHR), and Lahore (LHE).
The logic for moving service is that Riyadh Airport is only operating with prior permission, and passenger flights at the airport haven’t resumed. So if Riyadh Air does want to resume flights, doing so out of Al Qassim is the next best option, inconvenient as it might be.
Of course one should mention that there’s no reason I can think of that Al Qassim couldn’t be a target by the Houthis, though obviously recent airport attacks have been centered around Riyadh.
Flying Riyadh Air will include a 4.5-hour bus ride
How does Riyadh Air expect passengers to get from Riyadh to Al Qassim? The airline is still letting passengers start their journey in Riyadh. The way it works is that passengers can check in at the InterContinental Hotel Durrat Al Riyadh, and can then take a complimentary coach to Al Qassim Airport.
The logistics here are quite complicated:
- Check-in at the hotel will be open between 15 minutes and two hours of the bus departure
- The bus ride will then take 4.5 hours, so that’s a really long journey
- The bus will then arrive at Al Qassim Airport 30 minutes before the baggage cutoff for flights
Talk about a really long travel day here, potentially!
Bottom line
With the attacks at Riyadh Airport earlier this month, operations at the airport have been suspended for quite some time. Riyadh Air is now resuming operations, but it’s doing so out of Al Qassim Airport, rather than Riyadh Airport.
This is as good as it gets if Riyadh Air wants to resume operations, though of course a 4.5-hour bus ride in order to reach the departure airport isn’t exactly ideal. What is the airline supposed to do, though? Man, Riyadh Air really had very unlucky timing when it comes to its launch and ramp up.
What do you make of Riyadh Air’s Al Qassim Airport setup?
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