Attacks on Saudi airports ripple into Pakistan: 114 flights cancelled and 77 delayed in 24 hours, with 28 Riyadh services grounded

It was a rough day to be flying in Pakistan. The attacks on Saudi airports, and the closure of Riyadh’s airport, are now showing up plainly in the schedules here. In the past 24 hours, 114 flights across the country were cancelled or did not operate, and another 77 ran late.

Riyadh passengers took the hardest hit. Twenty-eight flights between Pakistan and Riyadh were cancelled today alone, and with the airport there closed until midnight on October 17, airlines have little choice but to keep cutting. PIA’s Multan-to-Riyadh flight PK-765 was diverted to an alternative airport. Two Karachi-to-Jeddah flights were cancelled, as were one each from Sialkot and Multan to Dammam. Saudi Arabian Airlines’ Lahore-to-Madinah services, SV724 and SV725, ran more than five hours late.

Domestic travel did not escape either

Four Lahore-to-Skardu flights were delayed by two and a half to three hours. Five Karachi-to-Lahore flights ran three to eight hours late, and seven Karachi-to-Islamabad flights were delayed by one to five hours.

The advice from every airline is the same, and it is worth taking: check your flight’s status before you leave home. Until the situation around Riyadh settles, this schedule is likely to keep wobbling for the next few days.