The UK Tells Travellers to Leave Saudi Arabia by Land

Two people were killed and eight injured at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on 21 October, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said. The UK had already told British nationals to treat almost the whole kingdom as non-essential and to consider leaving by land.

GACA named the dead as a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident. Flights at Dammam resumed on 22 October, with air traffic back to what the authority called normal. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office page, still current on 23 October, still treats King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh as a continuing target and still points people at a land border.

A Countrywide Warning After Two Airport Strikes

The FCDO against all but essential travel to the rest of Saudi Arabia, and against all travel within 10km of the Yemen border. That nationwide wording replaced a tighter map that had named Aseer, Riyadh, Najran and Jizan provinces, plus Taif, Jeddah, Dammam and most airports.

King Khalid was struck by a missile on 10 October 2026, the FCDO says, and “continues to be targeted and remains at risk of further attacks.” Since 13 July the Houthis, the armed group in Yemen, have fired missiles and drones at sites across the kingdom. The named list is Abha, Jizan, Najran, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Yanbu, plus ports, energy plants, military sites and Red Sea shipping.

“Further attacks against airports as well as disruption and cancellations are very likely,” the FCDO writes. It also flags a separate risk of renewed Iranian strikes, even after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on 17 June 2026, because “the situation remains unpredictable.”

British nationals are told to follow Saudi Civil Defence alerts, keep away from oil plants and military sites, and skip photos of conflict scenes. If told to take shelter, the guidance is an interior stairwell or a room with few outside walls and windows. The greatest danger, it says, is falling debris from intercepts.

Dammam Was Hit 11 Days After Riyadh’s Deadliest Strike

GACA first reported one death at Dammam on the evening of 21 October, then raised the toll to two on 22 October. The eight injured were a Saudi citizen, two Indian residents, two Yemeni residents, two Bangladeshi residents and one Nepali resident, with wounds from minor to critical. The authority said it was still assessing damage and did not name a weapon or a perpetrator.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said the group had targeted Dammam’s airport, along with the defence ministry in Riyadh, an Aramco site in Yanbu and the airport at Abha. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said four drones were intercepted and destroyed in the Eastern Region.

AIRPORT ATTACKS WITH CONFIRMED TOLLS

GACA’s first list for 10 October named 12 dead: four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, with 309 wounded. India’s embassy later said one Indian national died from that strike; the funeral was held in Riyadh on 12 October. The 10 October missile hit the complex for terminals 3 and 4, used for domestic flights. GACA called it the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade.

On 8 October, GACA said three Saudi nationals were killed at King Khalid, including a pilot, and a Saudia aircraft on the ground was damaged. The Houthi media office claimed after 10 October that the group had “shut down Riyadh international airport.” Saree told airlines to take the warnings seriously and said Saudi Arabia “bears responsibility for any failed interceptions.”

GACA reopened King Khalid on 17 October. Movements still needed permission, and Cirium, the aviation data firm, recorded 181 of 274 scheduled departures from the airport affected on 19 October, a 66% disruption rate two days after that reopening.

WHAT WE KNOW

• Dammam toll: GACA confirmed two dead and eight injured, then said operations and air traffic had resumed on 22 October.
• Riyadh toll: GACA put 10 October at 12 dead and 309 wounded; India’s embassy confirmed a further Indian death from that strike.
• UK map: All travel is advised against within 10km of Yemen; all but essential travel is advised against everywhere else.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Dammam weapon: GACA has not said what struck King Fahd, or which part of the airport was hit.
• 23 October clip: A video circulated claiming a fresh Dammam evacuation after a drone warning; GACA has not issued a new shutdown.

A separate intercept over the Shaybah oil field on 21 October killed two people by falling debris, the energy ministry said. That incident is not part of the airport counts above.

Suspensions Now Run Into 2027

Saudi carriers kept flying where they could. Long-haul operators voted with their schedules, and some of those dates now sit in 2027 even though GACA says Dammam is open and King Khalid is no longer fully shut.

PUBLISHED AIRLINE DATES

IndiGo also cancelled Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah through 27 October 2026, India’s embassy in Riyadh said. Air India listed Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah through 24 October. Eurowings, inside the Lufthansa group, listed a Jeddah restart on 12 November. British Airways had already dropped Jeddah in April, before this round of strikes, as part of a wider Middle East trim.

The practical effect is a split sky. A passenger who can get a Saudia or flynas seat still has a ticket. A passenger booked on Delta, Cathay Pacific or, until mid-November, Lufthansa does not. That is why a land crossing is no longer a footnote in the British advice. It is the route the FCDO now asks people to plan.

How Can Travellers Leave Saudi Arabia Without Flying?

The FCDO tells British nationals who want to leave to consider travelling by land to a neighbouring country and flying from there, if they judge it safe, after checking that country’s own advice and entry rules. Travel inside or out of Saudi Arabia, it says, is at your own risk. The U.S. mission, in a 19 October alert, said the King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain and other land crossings were still open, as were highways around Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran.

On 21 October the State Department ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia only. Tommy Pigott, the department spokesman, 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.” Missions stayed open. U.S. staff in the kingdom need Chief of Mission approval to use any Saudi airport and may not travel within 20 miles of the Yemen border, a tighter staff rule than the UK’s 10km all-travel ban.

Private car, train, and bus options may provide alternatives to air travel to or from Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia, security alert, 19 October 2026

LAND AND RAIL OPTIONS STILL LISTED

• Causeway: The King Fahd Causeway into Bahrain remains open, the U.S. mission said, with Bahrain International Airport still operating.
• Buses: The FCDO points people at SAT Transportation bus services for cross-border runs; SAPTCO is listed by the U.S. mission as another coach operator.
• Rail: Saudi Arabia Railways is named as a domestic alternative, with schedules to be checked with the operator.
• Neighbour airports: Bahrain, Amman, Muscat, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah were listed as open on 19 October.
• Cars: The FCDO says a private vehicle must be wholly owned and registered in the traveller’s name; Absher can authorise another adult, including a dependant aged 18 or over, to drive it, but a valid exit/re-entry visa must be cancelled first.

Some bus and taxi operators may offer a border crossing. The FCDO warns that some posts have no onward transport and almost no facilities, so travellers should know where they will be dropped. Carry water, essential medicine and papers. A Saudi visa may allow air entry only; anyone aiming for the causeway needs to check that stamp before they set out.

Foreign Residents Among the Dead and Injured

The people hurt at Dammam were not a tour group. They were a Saudi citizen and residents from India, Yemen, Bangladesh and Nepal. The 10 October hall in Riyadh mixed Saudis with Bangladeshis, a U.S. citizen and travellers from Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. A Saudia pilot was among the dead on 8 October. Footage from the Riyadh terminal shows passengers in a queue, including Umrah travellers, which is the civilian fact the land-exit advice is built on.

India’s embassy in Riyadh, posting at 1700 hours on 23 October, said it was arranging to send the Dammam victim’s remains home. Of the two Indians injured there, one left hospital on 22 October and the other was expected out on 23 October. An Indian injured at Shaybah was discharged on 22 October. From the 10 October Riyadh strike, two Indians were still in intensive care, two were in a normal ward, and seven had been sent home.

𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞/𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟑 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, 𝟏𝟕𝟎𝟎 𝐡𝐫𝐬.

➡️ One Indian national tragically lost his life in the attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on 21 October. The Embassy is in touch with his family and is extending all necessary… pic.twitter.com/g5hb9xzwCb

— India in Saudi Arabia (@IndianEmbRiyadh) October 23, 2026

The mission also told the Indian community to follow Saudi rules against taking or sharing photos of intercepts and impact sites. The U.S. mission says people have been detained for filming government buildings, airports and blast sites. Ministry of Interior warnings treat that filming as a legal offence.

Riyadh Season Opened on the Night Dammam Was Hit

The same Wednesday evening, Riyadh Season’s seventh edition opened under the theme “Big Time.” Hotels, shops and tourist sites were not ordered shut. The part of Vision 2030 that sells the city as a festival venue stayed on the calendar. The part that needs foreign chief executives in a hall did not.

WHAT MOVED, WHAT STAYED

• Future Investment Initiative: The in-person 10th edition, listed for 26 to 29 October, was postponed to 2027.
• EU-GCC summit: The meeting set for 24 October, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as co-chair, was postponed with no new date.
• Six Kings Slam: The tennis exhibition moved to 27-30 December 2026.
• Riyadh Fashion Week: Put back to 2027.
• Soundstorm: Cancelled for 2026.
• Riyadh Season: Opened 21 October as planned.

The PIF Saudi International golf event, listed for November in Riyadh, was also postponed. Organisers can still fill a concert or a festival with people who already live in the city. They cannot fill an investment conference when Cathay Pacific will not resume until 31 January 2027 and Delta will not start Atlanta until March 2027.

Will Travel Insurance Cover a Trip Against FCDO Advice?

The FCDO states, in plain type, that travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against its advice. That line is the cost of the nationwide warning. A holiday sold as a package is a different product: under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, a “significant change at your destination” before you travel can unlock a full refund. Anyone holding a package should speak to the provider, not assume an airline voucher is the same right.

People already in the country who need to get out are in a narrower bind. A ticket on a carrier that has walked away is worthless until that airline rebooks or refunds. A ticket on a Saudi carrier still has to clear a permission-only airport in Riyadh, or a Dammam terminal GACA says is normal, on a day when the FCDO still calls further airport attacks very likely. The land route exists because that is the gap.

An ETA for tourism, business, study, medical care or Umrah outside Hajj is valid for 730 days from issue, with 180 days in the country across that period, and it does not include health cover. An e-visa for tourists includes health cover up to 100,000 Saudi riyals, which the FCDO notes may not meet a real hospital bill. None of those stamps is a security guarantee, and none overrides the insurance warning.

GACA’s line on 22 October was that Dammam was open and traffic was normal. India’s embassy was still moving a coffin. The FCDO page current on 23 October still told Britons to plan a land journey, check the next country’s rules, and treat a Saudi airport as a place to approach only after the booking, and the day’s threat picture, had been checked again.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on official travel advice, airline schedules and published casualty figures. It is informational only and is not travel, insurance, legal or security advice, and it is not a recommendation to stay, leave, fly or drive. Readers who hold tickets, insurance policies or visas should speak to their airline, tour operator, insurer and, where needed, a qualified solicitor or the relevant consulate before they change plans or cross a border. Casualty counts, FCDO wording, border status and flight dates are those published by the named authorities and carriers on the dates given above and can change without notice.