SriLankan Airlines has extended the suspension of all flights between Colombo and Dammam and between Colombo and Riyadh until and including 1 November 2026, citing the security situation in the region.
The airline announced the extension on Thursday. It gave no other details in the statement reported by Sri Lankan media.
The decision comes after an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, late on Wednesday. The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said one Saudi resident was killed and eight people were injured, and that the airport suffered some material damage. The flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said flights had been diverted away from the airport.
The Houthis, the Iran-aligned group in Yemen, have not commented on the Dammam attack. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted four drone attacks in the Eastern region. The Hindu newspaper reported that the airport had been attacked before, amid a wider wave of Houthi missile and projectile strikes on major airports in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said separately that debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at an Aramco-operated oil field in the country’s southeast. It said the dead were Nepali and Filipino nationals and the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.
Background
Saudi Arabia is one of the Gulf countries where many Sri Lankans work, and the Colombo flights to Riyadh and Dammam are among the routes that workers and their families use. The Houthis have increased their attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks, targeting shipping and oil facilities, according to The Hindu.
The Ministry said a drone’s debris killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia last month, which was the first civilian death since the Houthis stepped up their attacks. Earlier in October, a limited fire broke out in an administrative building at Aramco in the Eastern Province after an attack, the Ministry said at the time.
The situation in the wider region has also affected oil markets. Reuters reported that Brent crude futures rose $1.29, or 1.2 percent, to $110.11 a barrel on Thursday after the United States ordered some diplomats and family members to leave its missions in Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials told Reuters that the State Department plans to withdraw family members from a number of other missions in the region.
What it means
Passengers booked on the Colombo to Dammam and Colombo to Riyadh services up to and including 1 November will not be able to fly on SriLankan Airlines. Travellers should contact the airline or their booking agent for rebooking or refund options, as the airline’s statement did not set these out.
Sri Lankans working in Saudi Arabia or planning to travel there can check updated travel advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment before making plans. Families with relatives in the Eastern Province may also want to keep in touch with them, given the attacks reported in that area.
