SriLankan Airlines is keeping its flights to Riyadh suspended as a safety measure in response to continuing attacks on Saudi Arabia, the airline said, according to Hiru News.
Two flights on the Colombo–Riyadh rotation have been cancelled as a result:
- UL265, scheduled to depart Colombo for Riyadh on Friday
- UL266, scheduled to arrive in Colombo from Riyadh on Saturday
No decision has yet been taken on whether an alternative destination will be used, an airline spokesperson said.
The attacks behind the suspension
Two people — a Moroccan national and an Algerian national — were killed and 28 others injured in attacks on Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia.
A Sudanese national was killed and eight people injured in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Hiru reported, attributing the casualty details to foreign media.
That casualty reporting is second-hand in the only filing available to this desk, and the figures should be read with that in mind. The combined toll as reported is three dead and 36 injured across the two airports.
Context
The suspension follows a pattern of disruption on the route. Riyadh’s airport has been a target before in the current conflict: in September, a missile aimed at the airport was intercepted.
The route matters disproportionately to Sri Lanka because of the size of the Sri Lankan workforce in Saudi Arabia, for whom the Colombo–Riyadh service is a primary link home.
A separate round of Middle East cancellations earlier in 2026, when regional airspace closures forced SriLankan to halt a dozen flights across Dubai, Doha, Damman, Kuwait and Riyadh, is not the same event as this week’s suspension, although it involved the same flight numbers on the same rotation. This report concerns only the current cancellations.
Not reported
Hiru does not say when the suspension began, how many Sri Lankan passengers are affected, or what arrangements are being made for those already booked or stranded in Riyadh. It does not say when the airline expects to resume, or whether other SriLankan destinations in the Gulf are affected.
It does not attribute the airport attacks to any party, and it does not report any statement from Saudi authorities, from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. Ada Derana has filed on the cancellations but has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for eighteen consecutive days and could not be cited.
Source: Hiru News.
