An Attack on Dammam’s King Fahd Airport Kills One Person and Injures Eight, and Flights Are Diverted

An attack on King Fahd International Airport (DMM) in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, killed one resident and injured eight other people on the evening of Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said. The authority did not say who carried out the attack or what weapon was used.

It is the second attack on the Eastern Province’s main airport this month, after a strike on October 11 that the Houthis claimed and that caused no reported casualties.

What the aviation authority said

GACA’s statement, carried by Saudi outlets including Ajel shortly after 1 a.m. local time on Thursday, said the injuries ranged from minor to serious. All of the injured were taken to hospital straight away, the authority said.

The attack also caused material damage at the airport, which GACA said was still being assessed. It promised further updates but gave no detail on where the airport was hit or on the identity and nationality of the person who died.

Diversions, then flights landing again

Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said on X that flights were being diverted away from the airport after the attack, the Associated Press reported. GACA’s statement did not say how many flights were affected or whether operations were formally suspended.

Some flights were still reaching the airport overnight. FlightAware’s tracking shows flynas flights from Jeddah landing at King Fahd International around 1 a.m. local time on Thursday, and another from Cairo just after 3 a.m.

At about 5 a.m. local time, FlightAware counted 20 cancellations and 36 delays at the airport for the day. It does not say how many of those are linked to the attack, and some airlines had already dropped Dammam before Wednesday.

Lufthansa is one of them: its current Middle East schedule notice keeps Dammam off its network through November 30. Travelers booked to or from Dammam in the coming days should check their flight status with the airline before leaving for the airport.

Who is behind it is not settled

Some early coverage described the strike as a Houthi attack, but the AP reported early Thursday that the Houthis had not commented on it.

Earlier on Wednesday, before the airport was hit, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree denied launching drones toward Medina or carrying out any military operations toward Saudi Arabia that day, Reuters reported. That denial answered the Saudi-led coalition, which said it had intercepted drones over Medina and the Eastern Province.

The same day, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said debris from an intercepted drone aimed at an Aramco facility at the Shaybah oil field killed two people, a Filipino and a Nepali, according to Dawn. The ministry did not say who launched that drone either.

A month of attacks on Saudi airports

Dammam is the third Saudi airport hit since early October. Riyadh’s King Khalid International took the worst of it, including an October 10 strike that killed 12 and shut the airport for more than a week.

For Dammam on October 11, the Houthis’ Yahya Saree said in a televised statement that the strike hit its target and disrupted air traffic, Anadolu reported. GACA confirmed only that the airport was attacked and that damage checks were under way.

Why Dammam matters to travelers

King Fahd International serves Dammam and Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province, on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar. Most of its flights on Wednesday night were flynas, flyadeal and Saudia, alongside Gulf Air, Oman Air and Air Arabia, according to FlightAware.

The attack lands just as Riyadh is coming back. The AP said a limited number of Saudia and flynas flights used the capital’s airport on Wednesday, two days after airlines were told they could resume with prior permission.

For US carriers, the backdrop has not changed: the FAA’s advisory NOTAM telling operators to use caution over Saudi Arabia, which warns that threats could affect aircraft “at all altitudes,” runs until December 10, as Reuters reported. The FAA’s Saudi caution notice stops short of a ban.

On Wednesday the US State Department also ordered nonessential staff and the families of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, citing Houthi attacks on civilian airports, the AP reported. As of early Thursday morning local time, GACA had not issued a further update on Dammam.