FlyDubai flight to Israel makes emergency landing in Saudi after cockpit fight

A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Israel made an emergency landing in Tabuk after a fight erupted in the cockpit. The scare prompted Israeli warplanes and a probe into whether passengers faced a wider threat.

In Short

• The aircraft sent a distress alert over two hours after departure
• Flight data showed a sharp drop in altitude before landing safely
• Saudi airport officials said both captain and first officer were injured

A FlyDubai flight travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a fight broke out in the cockpit, according to three officials. The incident raised fears in Israel of a possible hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of Israelis, and the country scrambled warplanes as the situation unfolded.

The flight landed safely in Tabuk, and an investigation is under way. An Israeli official said Israel believes there may have been an attempt to attack Israelis, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the situation was under control and efforts were on to bring the passengers home.

According to publicly available flight tracking information, the plane sent an emergency alert around two and a half hours after leaving Dubai. Flightradar24 showed the aircraft dropping suddenly from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in about a minute, then making an erratic circle near the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk about an hour later.

An Israeli official said two pilots were involved in a fight and that one of them was armed with a knife. A regional official briefed on the incident also said there was a fight in the cockpit that apparently involved the pilots. It was not immediately clear what caused the altercation. “The crew have been questioned as part of the investigation,” the regional official said, without saying whether anyone had been detained.

A statement from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, carried by Saudi state-run Alekhbariya television, said the captain and the first officer were injured and taken to hospital. The airport said the FlyDubai flight made a distress call at 8:44 am local time and landed safely at 9:45 am local time.

A third official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes because of fears of a hijacking. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still being investigated. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified heightened security threats. Israel is also days away from marking the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, weeks away from an election, and has been involved in multiple conflicts over the past three years.

Passengers told Israel's Channel 12 by phone that they heard shouting from the front of the aircraft from those who heard the altercation between the pilots, and said the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia. FlyDubai confirmed that flight FZ 1073, bound for Ben Gurion Airport, had experienced an incident and landed in Tabuk on Wednesday. “Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the airline said.

The emergency landing was not the first involving a plane carrying Israelis home. Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic ties with Israel, but lifted its long-standing ban on Israeli flights using its airspace in 2022. Since then, the kingdom has handled several emergency landings involving Israeli passengers, including in 2023 when a plane reported an electrical malfunction. The UAE, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020, has since become a popular destination for Israeli tourists.

The incident involving the FlyDubai flight ended safely, but it set off a major security response in Israel after a cockpit fight forced the aircraft to divert to Saudi Arabia. Investigators are now examining what led to the altercation and whether the passengers were at any wider risk.

With PTI Inputs

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