Riyadh's King Khaled Airport Reopens Today After Two-Week Closure, Saudi-Bound Passengers Watch Flight Schedules

After a two-week closure, King Khaled International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh is reopening from today, Sunday. The airport, one of the busiest in the country, was shut down on October 12 following a deadly attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels; the announcement that operations are resuming after the long standstill is a major relief for Saudi-bound passengers.

In a post on the social media platform X yesterday, Saturday, the King Khaled Airport authority set out the new arrangement. From October 25, the airport's Terminal 1 will be used for domestic flights, while Terminal 2 will be used for international flights operated by Saudi airlines.

The terminal-by-terminal arrangement itself suggests the restart has been organised step by step and with caution. Announcing in advance which type of flight will operate from which terminal on the first day is expected to reduce confusion among passengers.

The background to the closure was grim. The airport was shut on October 12 after a Houthi attack killed more than a dozen people at once. A deadly strike of that kind on a civilian airport was the direct reason flight operations were suspended.

It was not a single incident — over the past two weeks the Houthis attacked Riyadh airport multiple times. In total, at least 18 people are reported to have been killed at the airport. That series of repeated attacks was the main reason the airport remained closed for such a long period.

Riyadh was not the only airport targeted. An attack on King Fahad Airport in Dammam killed at least five more people. Several Saudi airports therefore came under attack during this episode, raising questions about the safety of air travel across the region.

It is against this backdrop that the Saudi authorities are reopening Riyadh airport. The available information does not state clearly whether the risk of attack has fully passed; but the decision to resume operations after a two-week closure itself indicates that the authorities believe the situation is sufficiently under control.

The news carries particular importance for Bangladeshi passengers. According to our earlier reporting, the number of cancelled flights on the Riyadh and Dammam routes had reached 144, and the number of affected passengers stood at 22,021. The reopening of King Khaled Airport could open the way for those passengers to travel again.

That list of cancellations included direct flights by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, US-Bangla, Saudia and Riyadh Airways, as well as transit flights by several carriers including IndiGo, Emirates and Qatar Airways. With so many routes affected, Riyadh-bound passengers had limited alternative options, and the disruption spread widely.

An airport reopening does not, however, mean that every flight returns to normal from today. Passengers will now have to wait for the airlines' next announcements on when regular Dhaka-Riyadh flights resume and how the journeys of those whose flights were cancelled will be rearranged.

According to the authority's announcement, passenger movement through Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 is set to begin today. The division between domestic passengers and Saudi airlines' international passengers is expected to help keep first-day operations organised.

Overall, after attacks, loss of life and a two-week standstill, King Khaled Airport's return is the first major sign of normality coming back to Middle Eastern air routes. Attention now turns to how quickly flight schedules regain their old rhythm, and when the thousands of stranded passengers — a large share of them Bangladeshi — can reach their destinations.