Riyadh Airport NOTAM Expires as Airlines Stagger Return to RUH Flights
Why It MattersAirport reopenings after missile strikes depend on inspection sign-off and a phased airline return, so schedule normalisation lags the legal reopening and leaves operators exposed to repeat cancellations through the recovery period.
What happened
NOTAM A3604/26, the aviation notice that grounded hundreds of flights at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport (RUH), lapsed at 2100 GMT on October 17, which is midnight Saudi time heading into October 18.
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) had completed runway and terminal safety inspections before the notice expired. Airlines are staggering their return to RUH flights rather than resuming full schedules at once.
The airport had been disrupted by Houthi missile attacks on October 6–7 and October 10. The attacks killed 15–16 people combined and injured hundreds. More than 3,100 flights were cancelled, and the cancellation rate reached 99.7% on the worst-hit day, according to Cirium cancellation data.
Industry impact & what to watch
A NOTAM lapsing is a legal reopening, not a return to normal operations. Once a regulator has signed off runway and terminal inspections, each airline still decides for itself when to put crews, aircraft and passengers back on the route, which is why the return is staggered rather than simultaneous.
For a hub that saw a 99.7% cancellation rate on its worst day, the recovery is paced by crew positioning, aircraft repositioning and passenger rebooking backlogs as much as by the airfield's condition. Business aviation traffic into a capital-city airport faces the same sequencing, with slot and handling availability tightening as scheduled carriers return.
The next milestone is which carriers publish confirmed resumption dates, and whether any further airspace notice is issued for the area.
