The cost of chartering private jets to and from Saudi Arabia has surged by more than 50% following Houthi attacks that disrupted air travel and forced the suspension of flights at Riyadh's main airport, the Financial Times reported on October 20.
The rising demand from wealthy travellers and business executives seeking to leave the kingdom, coupled with fewer available aircraft and higher war-risk insurance premiums, has driven up charter prices, according to flight operators and brokers.
A Bombardier Global 6000 private jet carrying up to 14 passengers flew from Al-Qassim, north of Riyadh, to Geneva last week for €94,000, compared with around €60,000 before the disruption, Alexander Graham of private flight group Luxe Jets told the Financial Times.
Flights to Europe from Saudi Arabia are now being offered for as much as $150,000, while charters to the United Arab Emirates cost between $30,000 and $50,000, according to Charles Robinson, founder of the EnterJets marketplace.
Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport has been closed to flights since October 10 following a series of deadly attacks by Houthi rebels. The kingdom's civil aviation authority had indicated that the airport would reopen on Sunday, but had not issued an update, leaving operators uncertain about when normal services would resume.
More than 5,500 departing flights from Saudi airports have been cancelled since the attacks began, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
German airline Lufthansa and Italy's ITA Airways suspended services to Saudi Arabia, while British Airways and Air France had already postponed flights.
With flights from Riyadh disrupted, some wealthy travellers have been using Al-Qassim airport, more than 200 miles from the capital, to charter private aircraft to destinations in Europe, according to executives in the aviation industry.
Others unable to afford private jets have travelled to neighbouring Bahrain and Qatar to catch commercial flights.
Saudi airlines continue to operate services from Al-Qassim to destinations including Dubai, Cairo and Bahrain, according to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24.
Several Western businesses have also approached private flight brokers to explore relocating senior employees based in Riyadh to Dubai or back to their home countries, four people familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times.
However, the situation has not triggered an evacuation on the scale seen in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year following the outbreak of the Iran war, when tens of thousands of people left Dubai and other parts of the country.
The UAE experienced a substantially larger volume of Iranian missile and drone attacks than Saudi Arabia. It also has a larger expatriate population and serves as a major regional centre for finance and trade.
Robinson said reduced availability and growing demand had allowed some operators to charge higher prices for flights out of Saudi Arabia.
A significant number of private jet customers were seeking to reach what they considered lower-risk destinations in the region before connecting to commercial flights to Europe or the United States, he added.
Operators have also been sending empty aircraft into Saudi Arabia to collect passengers seeking to travel to Europe.
Travellers are facing additional expenses as insurance premiums for flights operating in conflict-affected areas rise.
Toby Edwards, co-chief executive of private aviation company Victor, said war-risk insurance could add $20,000 to flights on larger aircraft carrying around 18 passengers. For smaller jets with eight to 10 seats, the additional charge could reach $8,000.
Robinson said insurance costs were adding as much as 10% to some flights across the region, with a higher premium for journeys directly into and out of Saudi Arabia.
However, the additional charges remain below the levels recorded at the beginning of the Iran conflict, when insurers were charging $50,000 to cover a single journey, he said.
Despite the disruption in Saudi Arabia, demand for private flights across the wider Middle East remains strong.
Edwards said missile strikes had not significantly affected demand elsewhere in the region, citing recent private flights between Antalya in Turkey and Dubai, as well as trips to Kuwait and Dubai.
The surge in charter costs highlights how security risks and disruptions to commercial aviation can rapidly narrow travel options, leaving wealthy passengers and companies paying substantially more to move people out of affected areas.