Western Media: Saudi Arabia Evacuates Nearly 100 Aircraft from Riyadh Airport

"Saudi airlines facing Houthi attacks have mobilized all their resources to evacuate aircraft worth up to $4 billion (about 5.7 trillion South Korean won) from Riyadh airport."

Saudi Arabia has removed nearly 100 planes from Riyadh airport. Following the deadly attacks of the Houthi forces, Saudi Arabian airlines have taken action to remove planes worth up to 4 billion dollars from the Riyadh airport.

Private jets, commercial passenger planes and helicopters were stationed at the Saudi capital's airport when Saudi authorities closed the runway on Saturday after a missile hit and created a hole in one of the airport's terminals. This attack left at least 12 dead and more than 300 injured.

The strike, one of the most devastating direct missile attacks on a civilian airport, followed a Houthi attack on Thursday; An attack that left three more dead and damaged five planes.

Following the Houthi's repeated missile attacks on Riyadh International Airport, the Saudi airlines, which had deployed billions of dollars worth of planes at this airport, are on full alert.

"Saudi airlines, faced with attacks by Houthi forces, have used all their power to remove planes worth up to 4 billion dollars (about 5.7 trillion South Korean won) from Riyadh airport."

According to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the number of planes stationed at King Khalid Riyadh International Airport, which was 134 on October 8, decreased to 38 by noon on October 14. Airlines that are concerned about possible further attacks by the Houthis are rapidly moving their planes to other airports.

On the same day, the Houthis officially announced: "We have successfully targeted the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile."

Private jets, commercial airliners, and helicopters were parked at Riyadh Airport when the Houthis attacked, and as a result, several planes were damaged. So far, it has been reported that a total of six planes have been damaged and their insured value is estimated at 375 million dollars.

Saudia Airlines, the national airline and the largest Saudi airline, has suffered the most damage. On October 8th, an Airbus A320 of this company, which was parked at Terminal 4 of King Khalid International Airport, was completely destroyed. According to officials, two planes parked on both sides of this plane were also damaged by the blast wave. One of them was an Airbus A321neo that was delivered in April.

A Boeing 787 belonging to Riyadh Air, another Saudi airline, was also damaged in the Houthi attack on October 10 due to missile shrapnel hitting the nose of the plane.

Riyadh Air had five planes in the airport's aircraft park, but after the attack, it moved four of them to other airports, including Jeddah and Madinah airports in western Saudi Arabia.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that although Saudi Arabia has invested hundreds of billions of dollars to build new airports, renovate existing terminals, and purchase commercial aircraft, a week of consecutive Houthi attacks has brought the country's aviation industry to the brink of crisis.

"A hub airport with a high volume of air traffic can experience widespread and concentrated damage from just one attack," said Marcos Alvarez, CEO of Global Financial Institutions at Morningstar DBRS. The same type of damage that insurance companies fear more than anything else."

He noted: "The destruction of a Saudi plane in Riyadh shows that planes are at risk even when they are on the ground."

It is expected that these attacks will increase the cost of insurance for Saudi airlines. The insurance contracts of three airlines supported by the Saudi government, namely Saudia, Riyadh Air and the low-cost airline Flydil, are to be renewed next month.

Since a direct attack on an airport is one of the worst-case scenarios that the aviation insurance industry has long feared, discussions have begun to raise premiums. However, it is not yet clear how much this increase will be.