EASA Tells European Airlines Not to Fly Part of Saudi Arabia's Airspace, Citing Wider Houthi Strikes

EASA's published text covers the Jeddah flight information region (FIR), identified by the code OEJD, "all altitudes and flight levels", and lists Saudi Arabia as the affected country. The status is shown as active.

The agency's first recommendation is that air operators should not operate, at any flight level or altitude, within the airspace of Saudi Arabia defined by a line connecting six navigation points and the boundary of the Jeddah FIR. The points are named in the bulletin as RIBOK, BOSUT, ISLAM, DEKLO, OBSAM and SILPA.

The second recommendation covers the rest of the Jeddah FIR. Operators are asked to exercise caution and take potential risks into account when flying in the remainder of the region.

Two further recommendations concern process. Operators should make sure an up-to-date risk assessment and a high level of contingency planning are in place for any operations in the affected airspace, and should be prepared for short-notice instructions from state authorities. They should also monitor airspace developments closely and follow all aeronautical publications for the region, including information shared through the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform on Conflict Zones, alongside any guidance from their national authorities.

Who is covered

The bulletin states that it applies to two groups. The first is air operators subject to Commission Regulation (EU) 965/2012 that plan to operate in the affected airspace, which EASA calls EASA operators. The second is third-country operators authorised by EASA, when they operate under that authorisation to, from and within the European Union.

The text does not name individual airlines. It also refers operators to aeronautical publications issued by or on behalf of Saudi Arabia, by neighbouring states' aviation authorities and by the state of the operator.

EASA describes the document as issued on the basis of information currently available to the agency, the European Commission and EU member states, intended to share what is considered necessary to ensure the safety of flights over zones of interest and to indicate areas of high risk.

The reasons EASA gives

The bulletin ties the decision to the regional security picture. It states that, as a consequence of the military conflict between the United States and Iran, the situation remains highly volatile, with significant kinetic military activity affecting Saudi airspace.

On the Houthi movement in Yemen, EASA says that in September 2026 the group significantly increased the frequency and geographic scope of attacks against Saudi maritime, energy and infrastructure targets, including in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Beyond oil and energy installations, the bulletin says military and aviation-related infrastructure across Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly targeted by missiles and drones.

The southern and south-western parts of Saudi airspace, the bulletin notes, remain particularly exposed because of their proximity to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. But it adds that recent attacks have demonstrated the ability and intent to strike deeper inside Saudi territory, including in the Riyadh, Tabuk and Yanbu areas. Turkish outlet Yeni Safak, reporting on the bulletin, also named those three areas.

Against that background, EASA identifies several hazards for civil aircraft: an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft when air-defence systems are active, risks associated with missile and drone overflights, interception activity, and falling debris. It says the spread of kinetic activity across a wider part of the kingdom in September increases the potential exposure of civil aviation beyond the areas previously affected, and requires operators to conduct close monitoring and contingency planning.

The bulletin also credits the host state. It says Saudi Arabia has demonstrated an ability to manage its airspace effectively, including through tactical deconfliction and Emergency Security Control of Air Traffic (ESCAT) measures, but that the operating environment remains vulnerable to rapid deterioration. EASA, together with the Commission and member states, says it will keep monitoring the situation to assess whether the risk to EU aircraft operators rises or falls.

How it compares with the previous Saudi bulletin

EASA's earlier standing bulletin for the Jeddah FIR, CZIB-2018-01 in its ninth revision, was last revised on 29 April 2022 and now carries the status "withdrawn" on the agency's website. It addressed the south-western sector of the region. Its concerns included anti-aviation weaponry, potential attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles, military operations in the south-west and ballistic missile threats affecting the wider FIR.

That older document told operators to avoid seven south-western airports: Abha, Jazan, Nejran, Sharurah, Wadi Al Dawasir, Al Bahah and Bisha. Those airports could not be designated as alternate aerodromes. For other operations inside the Jeddah FIR it set routing requirements, with flight-level restrictions typically between FL160 and FL250 and strict adherence to air traffic control instructions.

The difference in approach is visible on the page. The 2018-series text steered operators around specific airports and restricted the altitudes they could use. The new bulletin tells covered operators to stay out of a defined polygon at all altitudes. Note that the new document does not itself describe the 2018 bulletin or explain how it relates to it; the comparison here is drawn from the two published texts. The new bulletin also does not list airports, so readers should not assume that the former airport list carries over.

The wider EASA picture in the Gulf

The Saudi bulletin is one of several that EASA has issued for the region this year. Gulf News reported earlier in 2026 that EASA had extended a conflict-zone bulletin to 24 April, advising airlines to avoid airspace across Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. That report said the advisory followed United States and Israeli strikes in Iran on 28 February and subsequent Iranian retaliation against the UAE and other Gulf states. It quoted EASA as citing the risks of misidentification of aircraft, interception errors and advanced air-defence systems capable of operating at all altitudes.

That report also described how some European carriers reacted at the time. It said Lufthansa Group had suspended flights to Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Tehran, and that Air France had halted flights to Dubai, Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Beirut until early May. Those were statements from the spring and are not a description of any carrier's current schedule. As of this writing, no airline response to CZIB-2026-09 has been confirmed in the sources reviewed for this article.

The effects of the broader regional picture on airline planning are still showing up in schedules. On 5 October, The National reported that Wizz Air had postponed its planned return to Abu Dhabi from late October 2026 to 10 January 2027. According to that report, the carrier cited the continued closure of Iraqi airspace, which it said requires longer routings and technical refuelling stops for its A321neo aircraft and, combined with current fuel prices, makes the services commercially unviable under present conditions.

What the document does not say

Several points are outside the text and should not be inferred from it.

First, the bulletin does not say that any aircraft has been struck, hit by debris or involved in an incident in Saudi airspace. The risks it lists are described as risks.

Second, it does not set out the area in plain geographic terms. The polygon is defined only by six named navigation points and the FIR boundary. The bulletin's text as published does not describe which cities or airports fall inside it, and this article does not attempt to do so.

Third, it does not state how many flights or airlines are affected. EASA operators and authorised third-country operators are covered, but the bulletin does not quantify their Saudi schedules.

Fourth, it does not comment on Saudi airspace operations by airlines outside EASA's scope. Operators registered elsewhere follow their own authorities' guidance.

What happens next

The bulletin is valid to 16 November 2026 "unless reviewed earlier", so the date is a ceiling on the current text, not a guarantee. EASA states that it will continue to monitor the situation with the Commission and member states and judge whether the risk to EU operators is increasing or decreasing as the threat evolves. Any review could narrow, widen or leave unchanged the area covered.

For passengers, the practical effects will come through individual airlines' decisions on routings and schedules, which are not set out in the bulletin. Airlines that fall under the document are expected to document their own risk assessments and contingency plans, as the third and fourth recommendations require. Travellers booked on European carriers or on authorised non-EU carriers to Saudi Arabia should check with their airline for the latest position.

Sources

• EASA, Conflict Zone Information Bulletin CZIB-2026-09, Airspace of Saudi Arabia, issued 30 September 2026 (easa.europa.eu)
• EASA, Conflict Zone Information Bulletin CZIB-2018-01R9, Saudi Arabia Jeddah FIR, status withdrawn (easa.europa.eu)
• Yeni Safak, "EU agency warns airlines to avoid Saudi airspace amid Houthi attacks" (en.yenisafak.com)
• The National, "Wizz Air delays start of Abu Dhabi flights to January due to Europe's security update," 5 October 2026 (thenationalnews.com)
• Gulf News, "European aviation safety body urges airlines to avoid Middle East airspace until April 24" (gulfnews.com)