Saudi-bound flight disruptions affect 13,490 passengers as 86 services are cancelled or suspended
Restrictions at Saudi airports and flight disruptions have affected 86 direct and connecting services from Dhaka, leaving 13,490 expatriates and other passengers facing uncertainty, according to CAAB’s October 14 update.
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In a Nutshell
- CAAB reported 86 cancelled or suspended flights and 13,490 affected passengers in its Wednesday update.
- The affected services included 36 direct and 50 connecting flights. Biman accounted for 14 direct flights, US-Bangla 10, Riyadh Airways seven and Saudia five.
- Among connecting carriers, IndiGo recorded 22 affected flights, Emirates 11, Qatar Airways and flydubai six each, SalamAir four and EgyptAir one.
- Compared with the October 13 figures in your draft, the passenger count rose from 9,269 to 13,490, while the number of affected flights increased from 61 to 86.
- Passengers have been advised to contact their airlines about rescheduling flights or changing ticket dates until operations return to normal.
Context
The latest CAAB figures cover direct flights from Dhaka to various destinations in Saudi Arabia, as well as connecting services through airports in the Middle East and neighbouring countries. The disruption is therefore broader than Bangladesh–Riyadh services alone. CAAB attributed the cancellations and suspensions to restrictions at Saudi airports and disruptions to flight operations. The October 14 update puts the total at 86 affected services, 36 direct and 50 connecting, with 13,490 passengers affected. It does not specify when normal operations will resume.
Why It Matters
More than 3.5 million Bangladeshis work in Saudi Arabia, more than in any other country, and two of them are among the dead. The immediate risk is to people rather than money. Workers already in the kingdom can still send wages home. Those caught on the wrong side of the closure cannot easily get back to work.
New recruits have joining dates, and workers home on leave hold exit and re-entry visas that expire. Behind them sits Bangladesh’s largest remittance source: $5.85 billion of $35.59 billion in FY2025-26, and $1.65 billion, or 19.2%, in the first quarter of FY2026-27. A week’s closure is unlikely to dent that. A sustained pattern of attacks on Saudi infrastructure is a different question.
What We Think
CAAB’s count tells us how many seats were lost, not who was in them. A list showing which of the 9,269 are workers with joining dates or lapsing visas would let the embassy press Saudi Arabia for extensions, as it granted during COVID.
Safety is the harder question.
The attacks have targeted airports rather than the places where most Bangladeshis live and work, and nothing so far justifies evacuation talk. But other embassies have warned their citizens away from the airport area, and Bangladesh’s own advice to workers in Riyadh has been hard to find. The decision on when Biman and US-Bangla will resume flights to Riyadh also belongs to CAAB, not Riyadh.