By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines suspended flights to Riyadh on Friday, becoming the latest carrier to pull out of the Saudi capital after Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted its main airport with missiles and drones.
The carrier cited “the situation in the Middle East” in announcing the halt, a spokesman said. It gave no date for resuming service and didn’t say whether affected passengers would be rebooked. It urged travelers to call its contact center for flight status before heading to the airport.
The move is the first time the airline has curtailed Saudi operations since the US-Iran war, which began in late February. PIA stopped flying to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait on March 1, but said then that it would keep serving Saudi Arabia, using Boeing 777 aircraft on the longer routes. Saudi Arabia is a major destination for Pakistani workers and pilgrims, and one of the largest sources of remittances to Pakistan.
The Pakistan Airports Authority confirmed the suspension and said all other flights to Saudi Arabia were operating normally. It described “speculations circulating on social media” to the contrary as untrue.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been repeatedly hit this week. Flightradar24 data showed 104 flights to or from the airport were canceled on Friday and 154 delayed, after 335 cancellations on Thursday. Saudia, the kingdom’s flag carrier, accounted for 169 of the canceled departures from Riyadh, according to aviation data provider Cirium.
Other airlines had already moved. Lufthansa Group said its carriers would suspend Riyadh flights through Oct. 16. IndiGo, India’s largest airline, canceled all Riyadh services through Oct. 9, while Air India and Akasa Air did the same through Oct. 10.
The Houthis stepped up their campaign against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, seeking to shut down the kingdom’s airspace and oil facilities. Group spokesman Yahya Saree said it fired two ballistic missiles at Riyadh’s airport, one at Najran airport and another at an air base in Khamis Mushait. He also told workers at Saudi oil facilities to evacuate, days after the group struck a major refinery south of the capital.
A video verified by Reuters showed black smoke and flames rising from Riyadh’s airport. A witness and three people briefed on the matter said a parked commercial plane had caught fire, which was later extinguished. Saudi officials said debris from an intercepted missile hit a kindergarten and a medical complex in the capital.
After loud explosions across Riyadh on Thursday morning, several multinational companies in the King Abdullah Financial District told staff to work from home or evacuated them, people familiar with the matter said. Diplomats were told to shelter at their embassies, and at least one international school moved pupils to a basement.
On Wednesday, three people were killed in attacks on two Saudi international airports, including the one in Riyadh, after the Houthis claimed to have fired on both. Local media reported that a Pakistani national was among the injured at King Khalid, along with five Saudis and two Egyptians.
The latest strikes follow weeks of escalation. Fighting between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government resumed in July after years of relative calm, and the group has since warned airlines that Saudi skies are not safe. The Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday that it intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh. The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi and Yemeni forces were pressing a counteroffensive to oust the rebels from Mokha, a push meant to ease the threat to energy shipments through the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
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