Due to the closure of Riyadh Airport in Saudi Arabia, 61 flights from Dhaka have been canceled, affecting 9,269 passengers. Among the flights canceled from last Saturday until Tuesday morning (today), 22 were direct flights and 39 were transit flights.
According to information received from sources related to flight management at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, among the direct flights, 9 belong to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, 2 to US-Bangla Airlines, 4 to Saudia Airlines, and 7 to Riyadh Air.
On the other hand, among the transit flights, 16 from IndiGo, 9 from Emirates, 5 from Qatar Airways, 5 from Flydubai, 3 from SalamAir, and 1 from EgyptAir were affected. These passengers were scheduled to travel to Riyadh via transit through various destinations. However, due to flight cancellations from their respective countries, these airlines did not carry passengers from Dhaka.
Earlier, Riyadh Airport was declared closed following a Houthi attack on Sunday.
Riyadh Airport has been attacked at least five times in the last week. Last Thursday, three Saudi nationals, including a pilot, were killed in one such incident.
On that day, the Houthis targeted the airport’s infrastructure as well as a Saudia Airlines aircraft. It is believed that the pilot’s death occurred during this attack.
For nearly two months, attacks and counter-attacks have been occurring between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Saudi-led military coalition. The Houthis have made Riyadh Airport their biggest target in this conflict.
They had previously warned that any airline flying through Saudi airspace would face severe consequences. Following this warning, a major attack occurred at Riyadh Airport in the capital yesterday (Saturday).