Lufthansa Group and three Indian airlines will suspend flights to Riyadh, they said on Thursday, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis renewed threats against airlines after claiming an attack on the Saudi capital’s airport.

A Lufthansa spokesperson told Reuters the German group’s airlines would suspend flights to Riyadh through October 16 due to “current developments in the Middle East”.

India’s largest airline IndiGo INGL.NS said it had cancelled all flights to and from Riyadh until October 9.

Air India and Akasa Air also told Reuters they had cancelled all flights to and from the Saudi capital until October 10.

Read more: More than 150 Riyadh airport flights cancelled following attacks

Air India added that a flight from Delhi to Riyadh returned to the Indian capital on Thursday, while Akasa Air cancelled two scheduled services.

Smoke was seen rising from a stationary aircraft at Riyadh airport earlier on Thursday, according to a witness and three people briefed on the matter.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile, although there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities.

Saudi authorities said on Wednesday that three people had been killed this week in strikes on Riyadh airport and Abha airport in the southwest.

Several dozen international flights bound for Riyadh on Thursday evening have been cancelled, data from global flight tracker FlightRadar24 showed.

Data compiled by aviation analytics firm ‌Cirium showed 49.7% of departures from Riyadh airport had been cancelled by 1500 GMT, with a further 31 cancellations expected across Saudi airports on Friday.

International condemnation has mounted following Houthi attacks on two Saudi Arabian airports, with the United Nations, UK, France and governments across the Middle East denouncing the strikes that killed three civilians and injured 36 others.

The attacks on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh took place on October 6 and 7, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

Two female residents, of Moroccan and Algerian nationalities, were killed in Abha, where 28 people were injured. A Sudanese resident was killed in the Riyadh attack, which left another eight people injured.

Read: Three killed, 36 injured in Saudi airport attacks

Over 150 departing flights from Riyadh were also cancelled on Thursday amid these challenges.

Read: More than 150 Riyadh airport flights cancelled following attacks

The United Nations joined calls for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure, with spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric stressing that targeting civilians and civilian facilities is prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Speaking at a daily press briefing on Thursday, Dujarric called for maximum restraint and urged all parties to take necessary precautions to protect civilians from military operations.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also strongly condemned the strikes, describing them as reckless attacks and reaffirming Britain’s solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

France echoed those concerns, calling on the Houthis to immediately cease their attacks and provocations, which it said were destabilising the region and worsening the suffering of the Yemeni people.

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs also expressed support for Saudi Arabia’s efforts to defend its territory and infrastructure.

Gulf states voice support for Saudi Arabia

Across the Gulf, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman issued statements condemning the attacks and expressing solidarity with Riyadh.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the strikes as a blatant violation of Saudi sovereignty and a threat to the Kingdom’s security and stability.

Kuwait called for an immediate halt to the attacks, stressing that Saudi Arabia’s security was inseparable from that of Kuwait and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Bahrain similarly warned that targeting airports and endangering passengers and airport workers represented a dangerous escalation threatening regional security and civil aviation.

Oman, meanwhile, urged restraint, warning against actions that could further widen the conflict. Its foreign ministry called for wisdom and measures to preserve regional stability.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi called for a firm international response.

“Targeting civilian airports and endangering the lives of travelers, personnel, and civilians constitutes a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms,” he said.

Wider Arab condemnation

Egypt, Jordan and Palestine also joined the condemnation, alongside the Arab League, Arab Parliament and Muslim World League.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, during a telephone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said the attacks threatened the security and stability of the wider region.

The two ministers also discussed regional developments and the need for continued coordination to support stability.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy, in a separate conversation with Prince Faisal, condemned the continued Houthi attacks, describing Saudi Arabia’s security as an integral part of Arab national security.

Jordan denounced the strikes as violations of international law and the UN Charter, while the Palestinian Presidency warned that the attacks threatened not only Saudi Arabia’s stability but that of the entire region.

Arab Parliament President Mohamed Alyammahi called for those responsible to be held accountable, while Muslim World League Secretary-General Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al-Issa condemned the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Saudi-led coalition strikes 82 Houthi targets

The diplomatic response follows a major military operation by the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

Coalition spokesperson Major-General Turki Al-Malki said its forces had destroyed 82 Houthi military targets across four Yemeni governorates — Saada, Al-Hudaydah, Al-Jawf and Marib.

According to Al-Malki, the operation targeted 11 mountain-based ballistic missile storage facilities in Saada, along with command and control centres, communications systems, weapons depots and Houthi gathering sites.

He said the operation was launched in response to the attacks on civilian facilities in Saudi Arabia, warning that such actions “will not go unpunished”.

Flight cancellations at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport rose sharply on Thursday as airlines dealt with challenges surrounding attacks on Saudi aviation facilities.

Flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 showed 153 cancelled departures, representing 39 per cent of scheduled services, as of 4pm Saudi time (5pm UAE time). A further 111 flights, or 28 per cent, were listed as delayed.

However, the situation continued to evolve rapidly. By 4.40pm Saudi time, the number of cancelled flights had climbed to 162, with the figure still rising at the time of writing.

The figures marked a rapid change from earlier in the day, when only 20 cancellations had been recorded shortly before midday.

The disruption has affected domestic and international routes, with services to Dubai, Istanbul, Doha, Muscat and several Saudi cities among those cancelled.

Affected flights included Saudia’s SV554 and SV560 services to Dubai, Turkish Airlines’ TK143 to Istanbul, Qatar Airways’ QR1165 to Doha and Oman Air’s WY684 to Muscat.

Several domestic services to Jeddah and Dammam were also cancelled, according to Flightradar24 data.

Some flights continued operating, although behind schedule. Flydubai’s FZ842 service to Dubai, scheduled to depart at 1.15pm, took off at 2.48pm.

The disruption follows attacks on King Khalid International Airport and Abha International Airport on October 6 and 7, which killed three people and injured 36 others, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation.

Read more: Three killed, 36 injured in Saudi airport attacks

Yemen’s Houthis claimed another ballistic missile attack on Riyadh airport on Thursday, although Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed the latest claim.

The UAE has condemned the attacks, reaffirming its solidarity with Saudi Arabia and its support for measures to safeguard the kingdom’s security and stability.

Budget airline Wizz Air has abandoned plans to restart flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai this winter, just a month after announcing its return to the UAE market — and a year after shutting its locally based operations.

The airline has cancelled all services to and from both emirates scheduled between October 25 and March 27, saying regional airspace restrictions have driven up flight times and operating costs.

In a statement, Wizz Air said restrictions extended on September 30 would require significantly longer routes, making operations using its Airbus A321neo and A321XLR aircraft “commercially unviable under current conditions”.

The decision comes just three days after the airline postponed six planned Abu Dhabi routes until January 10, 2027, citing European aviation guidance and restrictions on Iraqi airspace.

In September, Wizz Air had announced a return to the UAE with eight routes connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai to six European cities, offering 32 weekly flights from October 25.

The services formed part of a wider Middle East comeback involving 49 weekly flights to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The latest cancellation follows an exit from the UAE last year.

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, ceased locally based operations on September 1, 2025, citing engine reliability problems, geopolitical instability and difficulties accessing certain markets.

That closure came despite the airline carrying more than 3.5 million passengers in 2024, an increase of more than 20 per cent year on year.

The latest planned services were to be operated from Wizz Air’s European bases, rather than through a revived Abu Dhabi subsidiary.

The airline said it would continue monitoring regional developments and reassess operations as safety guidance and commercial conditions evolve.

Ask most business leaders who makes money from health and the answer is hospitals, insurers and pharma. The numbers suggest that view is out of date. Health spending has moved out of the clinic and into retail, hospitality, property, finance and tech.

The global wellness economy reached $6.8tn in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI). That is double its 2013 size and larger than IT, tourism or sport. GWI projects it will reach $9.8tn by 2029, expanding 7.6 per cent a year. The fastest-moving sectors are not clinical ones: wellness real estate expanded 19.5 per cent a year between 2019 and 2024, and mental wellness 12.4 per cent.

The UAE is one of the sharpest examples. Its wellness economy is worth $40.8bn, equal to 7.6 per cent of national GDP, after expanding 14.3 per cent a year between 2019 and 2024, the fastest pace in the Middle East and North Africa. Wellness tourism alone reached $11.3bn, up 23.5 per cent a year, and GWI names prevention and personalised medicine among the UAE sectors expanding faster than anywhere else in the region.

Fads, trends and the gap between them

A market this size attracts noise. Every quarter brings a new supplement, tracker or longevity protocol, and business owners are left to work out which ones matter.

That is the question behind the second session of DQ Shift, the knowledge-sharing series from DQuarters, at Dubai Science Park on Wednesday 14 October.

Dr Craig Cook, CEO of The Brain & Performance Centre, a DP World company, will deliver the keynote, “The Future of Health & Wellness: What’s Coming and What It Means for Your Business”. A fireside chat follows, moderated by Gareth van Zyl, Group Editor of Gulf Business.

Dr Cook leads a Dubai centre focused on brain health, neurological rehabilitation and human performance, and previously served as Executive Director for International Operations at Cleveland Clinic. His session looks three to five years ahead, using global data to separate short-lived fads from the shifts reshaping the sector: personalised and preventive health, wellness built into everyday commerce, and technology that puts health data in consumers’ hands.

Six questions for the room

1. The conversation will work through questions that apply well beyond healthcare:
2. What changed to make health a business issue as well as a healthcare one?
3. Which shift are business leaders paying too little attention to?
4. If prevention is the future, where are the commercial opportunities?
5. Where will AI create the most value in health and wellness?
6. What one investment or capability does a business in tech, retail, hospitality or finance need now?
7. What will the best-run businesses be doing differently in five years?

Consumers are pulling the market forward. McKinsey’s Future of Wellness research values the consumer wellness market at $2tn, with Gen Z and millennials driving more than 41 per cent of US wellness spend while making up 36 per cent of adults. Early findings from its 2026 edition show 84 per cent of consumers now call wellness a top priority. On the technology side, MarketsandMarkets forecasts the AI in healthcare market will reach $110.6bn by 2030, from $21.7bn in 2025. For a retailer, a hotel group or a fintech, those figures describe customers they already have.

Why DQ Shift

DQ Shift runs on a simple premise: the most useful business insight comes from practitioners talking to peers. Sessions are short, held inside the communities where members work, and built to send people back to their desks with something they can use. The series opened at Dubai Media City with a panel on AI. Session two moves to Dubai Science Park, home to more than 6,500 life, energy and environment professionals.

The hour starts with 30 minutes of networking, so attendees meet the people working on these questions next door before the keynote begins. It is a morning to move your thinking forward.

• DQ Shift Session 2: Wednesday 14 October, 10.30am to 11.30am, Dubai Science Park. Places are limited. Register at https://www.dquarters.ae/dqshift.