UK Tells Travellers to Leave Saudi Arabia by Land

The UK advises against all but essential travel across Saudi Arabia after a 21 October strike killed two people at Dammam airport. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains at risk of further attacks, and people who need to leave should consider going by land.

On 21 October the US State Department ordered non-emergency government staff and their families out of the kingdom. Canada the next day told citizens to stay away from Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport itself.

Two Killed at Dammam After the Riyadh Airport Strike

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said an attack on King Fahd International Airport on the evening of Wednesday, 21 October, killed a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident. Eight other people were hurt, one Saudi citizen and seven residents: two Indian, two Yemeni, two Bangladeshi and one Nepali, with injuries from minor to serious.

GACA said on Thursday, 22 October, that airport operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal, while damage was still being assessed. FlightAware still counted 14 cancellations and 57 delays at Dammam that Thursday. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted Dammam’s airport, the defence ministry in Riyadh, an Aramco site in Yanbu and Abha airport. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said four drones were intercepted in the Eastern Region and five more in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on 22 October.

Canada went further than GACA’s “normal” line and told travellers to avoid that airport altogether.

https://x.com/TravelGoC/status/2113397319442873

The Dammam strike followed a missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, 10 October. GACA put that toll at 12 people killed and 309 injured, some in critical condition. The dead were four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. A further strike on 11 October killed one more person. Flightradar24 recorded 155 arriving and 161 departing flights cancelled on 10 October, with traffic bound for Riyadh sent mainly to Jeddah.

THE AIRPORT STRIKES IN OCTOBER

1. 6 to 7 October 2026: Attacks on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport kill 3 people and injure 36, GACA says.
2. 10 October 2026: A missile strike at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh kills 12 people and injures 309. Operations are suspended.
3. 11 October 2026: A further strike at the same airport kills one more person. The UK expands its warning to Jeddah, Dammam and all Saudi airports except Medina.
4. 21 October 2026: An attack at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam kills 2 people and injures 8. The US orders non-emergency staff to leave the kingdom.
5. 22 October 2026: GACA says Dammam traffic is back to normal. Canada advises against all travel to that airport.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Iranian-supported Houthis had “increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions.” A US embassy security alert said US government employees in Saudi Arabia need special authorisation from the Chief of Mission to use any airport in the kingdom.

The UK Warning Now Covers Almost the Whole Country

The FCDO page, updated on 21 October and still current on 23 October, advises against all but essential travel to the rest of Saudi Arabia and against all travel to within 10km of the Yemen border. That is wider than the 11 October update, which had named Jeddah, Dammam and Saudi airports except Medina.

THE UK WARNING IN FORCE

• The floor: Against all travel within 10km of the Yemen border, and against all but essential travel everywhere else in Saudi Arabia.
• The targets: Airports, military and defence buildings, bases, ports and energy sites, including Abha, Jizan, Najran, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Yanbu, plus shipping in the Red Sea.
• The start date: Since 13 July 2026 the Houthis have launched missiles and drones at locations in Saudi Arabia, the FCDO says.
• The shelter rule: If told to take cover, stay indoors; the greatest risk is falling debris from intercepts, not only a direct hit.

The FCDO says King Khalid International Airport “continues to be targeted and remains at risk of further attacks,” and that “further attacks against airports as well as disruption and cancellations are very likely.” It also flags a separate chance of renewed attacks by Iran, even after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on 17 June 2026. British nationals are told to stay away from oil sites and military facilities, skip photos of conflict incidents, follow Saudi Civil Defence alerts, and sign up for FCDO email updates.

GACA can say a runway is open. Canada can close that airport to its own travellers. The UK can still allow essential trips while telling people who want out to look at a land border. Those three lines sit side by side, and none of them is a flight schedule.

How to Leave Saudi Arabia Without Flying

The FCDO’s practical answer is not another airline. It is a road journey into a neighbouring country, then a flight from there, if you judge that route is safe. Travel in or out of Saudi Arabia is at your own risk, the department says.

LAND EXIT RULES FROM THE FOREIGN OFFICE

• The papers: Check travel advice for the country you will enter, plus entry and exit rules, or you can be turned away at the line.
• The car: A private vehicle must be wholly owned and registered in your name. Absher can authorise another person, including dependants aged 18 and over, to drive it in Saudi Arabia or abroad; a valid exit/re-entry visa must be cancelled before that authorisation is issued.
• The bus: Some buses, private-hire taxis and other vehicles offer cross-border trips. The FCDO names SAT Transportation. Confirm the operator has permission to cross, and check where you will be dropped, because some posts have no onward transport and few facilities.
• The kit: Carry emergency supplies, water and essential medication, and check the crossing is open before you set off.

Jordan lists three land crossings with Saudi Arabia as open 24 hours: Umari, about 155 km from Amman; Mudawara, about 322 km from Amman; and AlDurra, linking Aqaba with Haql. Qatar’s FCDO page says the Abu Samra crossing with Saudi Arabia is currently open, though that note is written for people leaving Qatar, not arriving. British nationals on emergency travel documents, emergency passports, or passports with under 6 months left who are trying to move between Bahrain or Qatar and Saudi Arabia are told to call British Embassy Riyadh on +966 (0)11481 9100 or British Consulate Jeddah on +966 (0)126225550.

The trap in that advice is the visa in your passport. The FCDO says a Saudi visa may only allow entry by air. If you plan to use the Bahrain causeway, check the visa before you travel, and ask your agent or the Saudi Embassy if the stamp will work on the road.

King Fahd Causeway Shut When the Airspace Did

As an alternative to airports within Saudi Arabia, British nationals wishing to leave Saudi Arabia should consider travelling by land to a neighbouring country and flying from there.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Saudi Arabia travel advice

The obvious land door from the Eastern Province is the 25 km King Fahd Causeway from Al Khobar to Bahrain, a short drive from the Dammam airport that was just hit. Licensed taxis have been allowed to carry passengers across it since 6 September 2026. The one-way car toll has been SAR 35 since 18 February 2026.

It is also a door that shuts. FCDO advice for Bahrain tells British nationals to keep departure plans under review and notes the simultaneous closure of airspace and the King Fahd Causeway in April 2026. The land route the UK now points to as a substitute for Saudi airports has already closed in the same breath as those airports. Yemen is not an exit: the FCDO advises against all travel within 10km of that border.

Lufthansa Keeps Riyadh Off Its Schedule Until 18 November

GACA reopened King Khalid under a permission system after the 10 October strike, and some Saudi airlines have been operating from there. That has not brought the foreign long-haul lists back. Lufthansa Group’s Middle East travel notice as of 20 October keeps Frankfurt to Riyadh grounded through 18 November 2026 and keeps Dammam off Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Edelweiss schedules through 30 November. Eurowings, in the same group, is due to resume Jeddah on 12 November.

AIRLINE SUSPENSIONS ON SAUDI ROUTES

KLM’s own Middle East statement, last updated on 10 October, is the source of its 31 October cut-off. British Airways has said it will return with one daily Riyadh flight from 3 November. IndiGo stretched its Riyadh cancellations to 31 October after the Dammam strike, with Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah listed through 27 October. Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong to Riyadh postponement already ran to 31 January 2027. Delta moved a new Atlanta to Riyadh launch, which had been set for 23 October, to March 2027. If you choose to fly, the FCDO says check the booking is confirmed and the flight’s status before you go to the airport, then follow local instructions.

Package Refunds Follow a Significant Change at Your Destination

Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against FCDO advice. That line is on the Saudi page in plain type, and it is the lever that turns a warning into a cancelled holiday. If you have not yet travelled, talk to the airline or tour operator before you decide to go anyway.

Package holidays sit under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. Where there has been a significant change at the destination before you travel, you may be able to cancel without penalty and take a full refund. A flight-only ticket is a different contract; that refund path is the one in your airline’s conditions, not the package rules. Essential travel, in the FCDO sense, means urgent family or business commitments, not a Riyadh Season booking you would rather keep.

For Residents, the Border Starts on Absher

Tourists and residents are not in the same queue. If you live in Saudi Arabia you must get an exit or re-entry permit from your sponsor to leave and come back. Leave on a final exit permit and you need a new visa to return. A woman married to a Saudi national must get a re-entry or final exit permit from her husband; the same rule applies to children of Saudi nationals.

Visitors still need a visa. You can apply for an electronic travel authorisation for tourism, business, study, medical treatment or Umrah outside Hajj season; it is valid for 730 days from issue, with 180 days in the country across that period, and it does not include health insurance. Tourists can also apply for an e-visa online, valid for 365 days from issue with 90 days in the country, and that product includes health cover up to 100,000 SAR. An electronic visa waiver allows one entry of up to 180 days and does not include health insurance. Passports need at least 6 months left on arrival. Hajj needs its own visa. Overstaying can mean fines, detention, deportation and a ban.

GACA can call Dammam’s traffic normal. The FCDO page current on 23 October still says more airport attacks, and more cancellations, are very likely, and it still points people who need to get out toward a land border that has already closed once this year when the airspace did.