Jeddah Is Flying Again, but Riyadh Is Still Off the Board

Flights between the UAE and Saudi Arabia are recovering unevenly, and the split now runs along city lines. According to an update from The National on November 12, Jeddah service has come back on several UAE airlines, while Riyadh, Dammam and Abha remain heavily disrupted. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has partly resumed operations after a suspension in October that followed an attack on the airport, but the region’s carriers are still holding back from a full return and are extending cancellations a few days at a time.

Etihad has the longest published cancellation. It has stopped all passenger and cargo flights between Abu Dhabi and both Riyadh and Dammam through Thursday, November 19, while restoring Jeddah with up to four daily flights. Emirates has cancelled Dubai to Riyadh and Dubai to Dammam until at least November 13, has restarted Jeddah with two daily flights, and reports Madinah running normally. Etihad’s own statement warned that the situation is still changing and that more adjustments are possible, so even these dates should be treated as provisional rather than firm restart points.

The low-cost carriers are in a similar holding pattern. flydubai has suspended Dubai to Riyadh and Dubai to Abha with no confirmed date to resume, and has cancelled Dubai to Dammam until at least November 13. Air Arabia has cancelled Riyadh and Abha until at least November 13, but says its Dammam and Taif flights are operating normally. That patchwork means a traveler heading to the Eastern Province could find one airline flying and another not on the same day, which makes it worth comparing carriers before assuming a route is closed.

The disruption extends beyond the Gulf. A November 12 travel watch list from Travel Monitor notes that Australia’s Smartraveller currently advises against all travel to Saudi Arabia, and that a number of international airlines have cancellations running to various dates, with Cathay Pacific’s reportedly extending to January 31, 2027. If you have a Saudi trip coming up, check your flight status directly with the airline before leaving for the airport, review your government’s travel advice, and confirm what your travel insurance covers, since policies often treat destinations under a do-not-travel warning differently.

Sources: The National, Travel Monitor