Saudi Arabia was known as one of the few safe routes in the Middle East, but it has now forced airlines to choose between the two main remaining corridors connecting Europe and Asia / The alternative route, despite its own specific risks, has become congested / This route passes over Afghanistan, which provides no active air traffic control, and runs near active conflict zones along the Pakistan border

Houthi missile attacks have led airlines to reduce flights through Saudi airspace, a key link between Europe and Asia.

The Wall Street Journal wrote: Houthi missile attacks have caused airlines to reduce their flights through Saudi Arabia's airspace, which is one of the key links between Europe and Asia.

According to "Select" report; This article continues: Commercial air travel has been drawn to the frontlines of expanding conflicts around the world; Airports, airplanes, and airspace have become the direct targets of missile and drone attacks on a scale never seen before.

Major airports across the Middle East have been repeatedly targeted since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February. Parked planes have been hit by missiles or falling debris from defense systems, killing crew and passengers. These threats reached their peak on Saturday with the Houthis' missile attack on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, which left at least 12 dead and more than 300 injured.

The attack, the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in more than a decade and one of the worst direct missile attacks on a civilian airport, left airlines scrambling to divert dozens of planes and cancel more than 1,000 flights. Other major Saudi airports have also been targeted, effectively collapsing one of the two main remaining air corridors connecting Europe to Asia.

Governments including the US, UK and Australia are advising their citizens to avoid Riyadh airport after the attack. France, Canada and Germany are warning airlines that it is no longer safe to fly over all or large parts of Saudi airspace.

Active targeting of airplanes and airports this year by conventional missiles and long-range drones is unprecedented in terms of frequency and damage to major airports, and this threat has been exacerbated by the reduction of air defense missile stocks. Safety experts and advocates say that passengers should not take an airline's decision to operate a flight as a guarantee of the safety of that route.

"It all depends on the country managing the airspace and the airline doing their own risk assessment," said Matt Bury, chief information officer at aviation security specialist Osprey Flight Solutions. He added: "They are counting on the fact that the relevant country has taken the necessary measures to keep the airspace safe." He advised that travelers should consult their governments' travel advisories.

The Houthi attacks - and the group's announcement that it would target more commercial airports - followed a failed attempt by a Flydubai pilot to hijack a plane en route to Israel this month and crash it into Tel Aviv airport; An incident that showed a new range of dangers from inside the flight cabin.

Since late February, Iran has blown up fuel tanks and damaged parked aircraft, runways and air traffic control infrastructure at major airports in Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and elsewhere. In March, three private jets were hit by Iranian missile debris on the runway at Tel Aviv airport, leading to the temporary closure of Israeli airspace.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have targeted targets at Beirut airport, and Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen's Sanaa airport in July to prevent a plane carrying a Houthi delegation from the Iranian leader's funeral from landing.

Ukraine has also started efforts to close Russian skies with continuous drone attacks and criticized Moscow for not taking the necessary steps to declare the airspace unsafe for civilian flights; What Ukraine did at the beginning of the war in 2022.

Governments have typically been slow to warn airlines or close airports and airspace in the face of an active attack. Many of them have no warnings or restrictions at all.

In the run-up to Saturday's attack, Saudi Arabia was reluctant to completely close its airspace or airports. Except for short closures when Houthi missiles hit, the country's airports were mostly open for flights and landings.

This situation changed after the deadly attack on Terminal 3 of Riyadh Airport on Saturday. The airport has since been closed, but is scheduled to reopen by midnight Sunday while officials assess the extent of the damage, according to a notice the airport issued to operators. Authorities have also imposed restrictions at other airports.

The rise in threats against civilian aircraft has prompted rare warnings from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN body that oversees global air travel; The institution that last month once again asked the member states to prevent aviation from being dragged into the ongoing conflicts.

"Although the aviation industry is able to reroute flights and maintain operations during conflicts, this operational flexibility does not address fundamental security threats," the UN agency said.

Yemeni militias' barrage of missiles into Saudi Arabia since last month has also targeted fuel tanks at the capital's airport, damaged airport warehouses, destroyed a parked Airbus A320, damaged at least five other planes, and killed several airline workers, including a captain of the country's national airline.

The attacks prompted the European Union's aviation regulator to issue a warning last week against flying over parts of Saudi airspace. These announcements were issued following the October 5 warning by the Houthis, who announced that the skies of Saudi Arabia would become a "theatre for the operations of our armed forces."

"The Houthis have made it very clear in their actions and messages that they target civilian aviation," independent aviation safety group OpsGroup said in a warning on Friday, advising airlines to avoid flying at all altitudes over any part of Saudi airspace.

Warnings over the skies of Saudi Arabia, once known as one of the few safe routes in the Middle East, are prompting airlines to reduce flights on one of the two remaining main corridors connecting Europe and Asia.

Airlines have repeatedly had to change their flight routes to deal with global conflicts; The rapid reduction in airspace is painful at a time when jet fuel prices are about double what they were at this time last year.

These changes actually started with the closure of Ukrainian skies in early 2022 and the subsequent ban on the use of Russian skies for European, American and other countries' airlines. The closure of a vital corridor over Iraq at the start of the war with Iran this year forced more airlines to fly through Saudi airspace. Increasingly, airlines have come to rely on a strip of airspace that passes over Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to travel between Europe and Asia.

For example, Virgin Atlantic has been flying twice daily from Mumbai to London via Central Asia since late September. The airline used to route it frequently via Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

This alternative has become crowded despite its own risks, including the possibility of a contagion between Russia and Ukraine. The route typically passes over Afghanistan, which under Taliban rule does not offer active air traffic control, and passes close to active conflict along the Pakistani border.

Airlines are often not faced with good options. Air India and Turkish Airlines have changed some of their routes to fly along the Saudi-Iraq border, away from the threat of Houthi attacks. But those flight routes usually pass near Damascus, the Syrian capital, which remains a high-risk area.

Route changes also disrupt the complex orchestra orchestrated by airline flight planning teams; Teams must consider everything from crew hours restrictions to the exact balance of connecting flights.

For example, Qantas Australia earlier this year suspended its direct flight from Perth to London after calculating that the 17-hour flight was not practical without passing through the Middle East. The company now operates the route with a refueling stop in Singapore, which adds up to four hours to the journey.