144 Flights Cancelled on Riyadh-Dammam Routes, More Than 22,000 Passengers Affected

A total of 144 flights from Dhaka to Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia have been cancelled. The number of affected passengers has reached 22,021. For Saudi-bound passengers, this wave of cancellations has now become the biggest cause of suffering.

According to sources at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), among the flights cancelled from October 10 until Saturday night, October 24, 67 were direct flights and 77 were transit flights. In other words, this crisis has continued for more than two straight weeks.

Among the direct flights are 28 of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, 10 of US-Bangla Airlines, 19 of Saudia Airlines and 10 of Riyadh Airways. Several domestic and foreign airlines are on this cancellation list.

Among transit flights, meanwhile, 30 of IndiGo, 14 of Emirates, nine of Qatar Airways, eight of Flydubai, seven of Salam Air, eight of Air India and one of Egyptair have been affected. The number of transit flights is even higher than the number of direct flights.

These passengers were supposed to travel to Riyadh and Dammam via transit in various destinations. But because flights were cancelled from their respective countries, they did not carry passengers from Dhaka. As a result, passengers' journeys in Dhaka were stuck at the very start.

The figures show that the problem is not a single airline's isolated crisis. Because many airlines and many routes have been affected together, across both direct and transit services, the opportunity for passengers to travel by alternative routes has also become limited.

Earlier, Riyadh airport was declared closed after a recent Houthi attack. There was also an attack in Dammam. It is in the context of these events that this air-travel deadlock began, according to the related information.

In the wake of these events, Biman Bangladesh Airlines kept flights to Riyadh and Dammam suspended until October 17. US-Bangla Airlines, meanwhile, announced the cancellation of Riyadh flights until October 21.

But even after those set deadlines passed, the total number of cancellations reached 144, which shows the impact of the crisis did not remain confined to just a few days. This picture comes from the count from October 10 to the night of October 24.

The figure of 22,021 affected passengers makes clear the scale of passengers' suffering. Behind every cancelled flight there is a story of replanning a journey, waiting and uncertainty, although those personal details are not part of this count.

Passengers and those concerned are now looking to the next flight schedules and the airlines' new decisions. When and how the cancelled passengers' journeys will resume is the information most needed at this moment.