Amid Houthi Attacks, a Biman Flight Carrying 379 Passengers Flies to Dammam: 134 Flights Cancelled, More Than 20,000 Passengers Stranded

Amid attacks on Saudi Arabia's Dammam airport, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight has taken the risk and set off for Dammam carrying 379 passengers. The flight left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8am on Thursday (22 October).

Shahnur Ahmed, spokesperson of Biman Bangladesh Airlines' public relations department, confirmed the information to Bangla Tribune. He said the flight took off for Dammam at 8am, in line with the earlier announcement.

In reply to a question he said: 'It flew because it had permission. If there had been no permission, it would not have flown.'

The Houthi rebel attack on Dammam's King Fahd International Airport killed one person and injured eight. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority (GACA) confirmed the information in a statement on Wednesday; the Qatar-based outlet Al Jazeera reported the news.

The agency said the injuries of the wounded ranged from minor to serious, and all of them were sent to hospital for treatment.

Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's air defence system intercepted a drone heading to strike a facility at Aramco's Shaybah oil field. Two people were killed in that incident, the country's energy ministry said.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on Saudi airports, against the backdrop of intensifying conflict between the Houthi rebels and Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

Last week Saudi Arabia said a missile strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on 11 October killed one person and injured 11. The previous day, 10 October, a separate attack on the same airport killed 12 people and injured more than 300, according to the country's civil aviation authority.

Because of the continuous attacks, direct and transit flights from Dhaka's Shahjalal airport kept being cancelled. By last Wednesday, 134 flights had been cancelled, leaving more than 20,000 passengers stranded.

In a notice sent to the media on Wednesday, Biman said that, given the steadily improving situation following the attacks on Saudi airports, it has decided to operate a flight to Riyadh on 25 October. The flight will leave Dhaka for Riyadh at 1:25am Bangladesh time on the night of 25 October. Decisions on operating other Riyadh-bound flights will be taken later, after observing and reviewing the overall situation.

Biman's Dammam-bound flights resumed on 21 October. Until 26 October, a flight will leave Dhaka for Dammam every day at 8am Bangladesh time, operated with Boeing 777 aircraft.

For Jeddah-bound flights, two flights will be operated from Dhaka to Jeddah on 22 October. In addition, on 23, 24 and 25 October, one flight will leave Dhaka for Jeddah every day at 7:20pm Bangladesh time.

Madina-bound flights, meanwhile, have been operating as usual since 18 October, with Boeing 787 aircraft used on the route; their operations and schedule will remain unchanged until a further decision. Biman will announce later updates on flight operations and schedules in due course, and has requested passengers to contact their nearest Biman sales centre for ticket purchase, booking and travel information. If the improvement continues, stranded passengers hope Saudi-bound flights will return to their normal rhythm.