Card spending on airlines in Saudi Arabia fell by almost a third in a single week, as mass flight cancellations grounded travel across the Kingdom.
The drop was more than four times steeper than the decline in overall consumer spending.
Airline point-of-sale spending fell 29.7% week on week to 28 million Riyals in the week ending October 17, according to Saudi Central Bank data. Total spending fell 6.8%.
Hotels hit too
Hotel spending dropped 17.7% to 223 million Riyals over the same week.
The cancellations
More than 4,000 of 8,883 scheduled departures, about 46%, were cancelled between October 8 and 15.
Riyadh was hit hardest. On October 15, 298 of 366 departures, or 81%, were cancelled.
King Khalid International Airport was closed for several days.
Foreign carriers are pulling back as well. IndiGo cancelled Riyadh flights through October 31, and Akasa suspended service until November 30.
What to watch
Flynas fourth-quarter results will show the real hit. Card data captures only part of airline revenue.
