If you're booked on a flight between the UAE and Saudi Arabia over the next couple of days, check before you head to the airport. Several UAE carriers have pulled a long list of services to and from Saudi destinations, including Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, in response to the current situation in the kingdom. Here's where things stand as of Monday, October 12.
Emirates has cancelled its three daily Dubai–Riyadh services (EK815, EK819 and EK817) for both Monday October 12 and Tuesday October 13, along with the matching return legs. The same applies to its Jeddah routes, with EK801, EK805 and EK803 grounded both days, and to Dammam, where EK823, EK827 and EK821 are all off.
Etihad Airways has cancelled EY559 from Abu Dhabi to Riyadh and EY560 on the return on Monday, with EY551 and EY552 also scrapped on Tuesday. Services linking Abu Dhabi with Dammam and Jeddah are disrupted too, with Monday and Tuesday flights cancelled.
Flydubai has axed all of its Dubai–Riyadh flights across both days, plus its Tuesday service to Abha (FZ 811). But it's not a total shutdown: flydubai's Jeddah flights are still running as normal, as are its routes to AlUla, Madinah, Taif and NEOM.
Over in Sharjah, Air Arabia has cancelled all flights to Riyadh, Abha and Taif on Monday and Tuesday, while its Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah and Tabuk services remain scheduled as planned.
The picture is clearly patchwork rather than a blanket ban, so the city you're flying to matters as much as the airline you've booked with. Riyadh routes look worst hit across the board, while a decent number of western and northern Saudi destinations — Jeddah, Madinah, Tabuk, AlUla — still have flights operating on at least some carriers.
That said, disruption like this can change quickly, and a flight listed as operating today may not be tomorrow. If your trip falls in the next 48 hours, contact your airline directly or monitor its flight status page before travelling, and check what your rebooking and refund options are in case your flight is pulled at short notice. Travellers with connecting flights through Dubai or Abu Dhabi should also build in extra buffer time in case inbound cancellations knock onward plans off schedule.
Why it matters: the UAE–Saudi corridor is one of the busiest in the Gulf, used by business travellers, pilgrims and people visiting family, so cancellations on this scale affect a lot of bookings. If you were planning a weekend in Riyadh or a connection through Jeddah, it's worth double-checking now rather than at the terminal — and keeping an eye on updates as the situation develops.
Details were accurate as of 9.30am on Monday October 12, per the original report.