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Lufthansa Group airlines will suspend flights to Riyadh up to and including October 16, a spokesperson said Thursday, as missile attacks claimed by Yemen's Houthi movement disrupted operations at the Saudi capital's King Khalid International Airport and triggered a wave of cancellations and diversions by carriers across the region.
The suspension adds a major European carrier group to a growing list of airlines curtailing service to Riyadh after the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile at the airport.
Saudi authorities said missiles aimed at the capital had been intercepted, and residents reported hearing several explosions over the city.
Indian airlines were among the first to react to the disruption.
Air India said it had cancelled flights to and from Riyadh until October 10 because of the developing situation, offering affected passengers full refunds.
One Air India service, flight AI2243 from Delhi to Riyadh, turned back to Delhi on Thursday "in the interest of passenger and crew safety," the airline said, and was subsequently cancelled, with passengers offered full refunds.
Air India Express also suspended its Riyadh flights until October 10, offering customers the choice of a free rebooking or a full refund.
IndiGo likewise scaled back its Riyadh operations. According to sources, the carrier diverted its Hyderabad-Riyadh flight to Dammam on Thursday, cancelled its Delhi-Riyadh service for both Thursday and Friday, and called off Friday's Hyderabad-Riyadh and Mumbai-Riyadh flights as well.
The disruption rippled across King Khalid International Airport's schedule more broadly.
Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed 169 of 378 scheduled departures from the airport had been cancelled by midafternoon Thursday.
The India-Riyadh corridor is one of the busiest international air routes out of India.
Cirium data for October 2026 showed airlines operating 286 weekly nonstop passenger flights between the two countries, led by IndiGo with 42 weekly flights, Air India Express with 32, Saudia with 30, Air India with 22, Flyadeal with 20, Riyadh Air with 14, Akasa Air with 12 and Flynas with 114.
The Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran and controls large parts of Yemen, said it had targeted King Khalid International Airport with a ballistic missile, asserting that the strike caused damage and disrupted air traffic.
A Saudi-led military coalition said two ballistic missiles had been launched toward Riyadh and a third toward Khamis Mushait, and that all three had been intercepted.
The group issued a warning Thursday to airlines, passengers and aviation workers to stay away from airports and other locations it had previously identified as targets, saying their presence there could endanger their lives.
It also cautioned experts, engineers and workers at Saudi oil facilities to avoid sites it regards as targets, covering both locations struck before and others it has separately named.
The Houthis have previously identified King Khalid International Airport, Abha International Airport and Khamis Mushait Air Base, along with sites in Jizan, Asir and Najran, as targets, and have warned airlines against operating in Saudi airspace generally.
Thursday's attacks followed a similar exchange a day earlier, in which the Houthis claimed strikes on the same set of targets and the Saudi-led coalition reported intercepting additional ballistic missiles.
Strikes on the Abha and Riyadh airports on Tuesday and Wednesday killed three people and injured 36 others, Saudi authorities said.
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