Overview
- Akasa Air announced on Friday that it will keep flights to Jeddah suspended until November 10 and to Riyadh until November 30 and is offering full refunds or free rescheduling to affected passengers.
- Several other carriers have also stretched cancellations with IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express maintaining staggered suspensions into late October and some international airlines signalling rollovers into November.
- An attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on October 21 killed one Indian national and injured others, contributing to airlines’ safety assessments and the partial reopening of Riyadh’s King Khalid airport.
- India’s Ministry of External Affairs said roughly 3,000 stranded Umrah pilgrims have returned and more than 10,000 others travelled home on available flights as missions run 24-hour control rooms to assist the affected community.
- Passengers are being offered refunds or rebooking and the Indian embassy has advised urgent travellers to consider routing through Bahrain, Kuwait or Qatar where visas and seats permit, creating extra transit demand and logistical strain.