KLM Keeps Riyadh and Dammam Off Its Schedule Until December 27 as Houthi Missiles Keep Targeting Riyadh

KLM has canceled its flights to Riyadh and Dammam up to and including December 27, 2026. The Dutch airline posted the change on November 12 in its Middle East statement, a one-line update that pushes the two Saudi routes a month past the previous date.

That earlier date was November 27, set on October 26 in the same update that dropped Amsterdam-Dubai for the whole winter season, up to and including March 27, 2027. The November 12 update leaves Dubai as it was.

Why the date moved again

KLM gave no reason in the November 12 line. The extension came after several days of Houthi missile fire aimed at the Saudi capital.

On Sunday, November 8, an Aramco administrative building in Riyadh was damaged by falling shrapnel in what Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry called an attempted attack, with no casualties, Al Jazeera reported. The Houthis also claimed to have targeted Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport that day, a claim that was not verified.

On Tuesday, November 10, the Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed a ballistic missile and a cruise missile fired toward Riyadh, Business Recorder reported. Dutch news agency ANP, in a story carried by NL Times, reported that missiles heading for the capital were intercepted again on Wednesday, three of them cruise missiles, according to the coalition.

Both Saudi airports KLM serves have been hit this autumn. King Khalid International was struck repeatedly in October, and the attack on Dammam’s King Fahd airport on October 21 killed two people and injured eight, according to Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority.

A month at a time since March

KLM’s own update log shows how the Saudi suspension has been run. A March 12 notice canceled Riyadh and Dammam through March 28, and the end date has been pushed back about a dozen times since, by anywhere from one to seven weeks at a time.

An April 21 update explained the approach: extending the cancellations was meant to give “clarity and certainty” to people booked in the coming weeks. The catch is that each new date gives travelers only a few weeks of certainty, which is why Dubai’s switch to a full-season cut in October stood out.

The new date puts KLM in the middle of the pack. Lufthansa’s Middle East flight page lists Riyadh as suspended up to and including November 18 and Dammam through November 30, both earlier than KLM’s new date.

Others have gone further. A November 6 roundup by The National said British Airways had pushed London-Riyadh back to January 11, 2027, and Cathay Pacific’s Riyadh cancellations through January 31, 2027, while Air France’s Riyadh pause runs to December 12.

Closer to the region, Emirates’ own flight-status data still listed its EK817 Dubai-Riyadh service on November 13 as canceled.

What KLM passengers can do

The November 12 update adds no new rebooking terms. In its March notices, KLM said passengers on canceled Riyadh and Dammam flights would be told personally and could rebook free of charge or request a refund through My Trip on klm.com.

European rules back that up. Under EU Regulation 261/2004, which covers KLM flights in both directions because KLM is an EU airline, passengers on a canceled flight must be offered the choice of a refund within seven days or re-routing, now or at a later date.

Fixed cash compensation is a different matter. It is not owed when a cancellation is announced at least two weeks ahead, and the regulation names security risks and political instability among the extraordinary circumstances that can also rule it out.

Travelers holding KLM bookings to Saudi Arabia for the holidays may want to settle on a refund or a new date now rather than wait. Every end date KLM has posted for the two cities since March has been extended before it arrived.