Flydubai Flight Lands in Saudi Arabia After Incident Between Pilots
- A violent incident between two pilots forced a Flydubai flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv to divert to Saudi Arabia.
- Flight FZ 1073 experienced an incident while en route, according to a statement from a Flydubai spokesperson cited by CNN.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the situation was under control and that all measures were being taken to safely return the Israeli passengers to Israel.
A violent incident between two pilots forced a Flydubai flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv to divert to Saudi Arabia. The aircraft descended sharply over northwestern Saudi Arabia, transmitting an emergency signal before landing safely at Tabuk Airport.
Flight Diversion and Emergency Landing in Tabuk
Flight FZ 1073 experienced an incident while en route, according to a statement from a Flydubai spokesperson cited by CNN. Flight tracking data reviewed by CNN shows the aircraft descended 17,400 feet, dropping from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet over northwestern Saudi Arabia in just over two minutes at approximately 1:20 a.m. ET. The plane transmitted an emergency signal at 1:32 a.m. ET and subsequently landed just before 3 a.m. ET at Tabuk Airport in the northwestern region of the kingdom. The Flydubai spokesperson confirmed that all passengers were safe and accounted for following the landing.
Israeli Security Response and Official Assessments
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the situation was under control and that all measures were being taken to safely return the Israeli passengers to Israel. An Israeli official told CNN that the event was not a hijacking, describing it instead as an internal personnel incident onboard the aircraft. Following the transmission of the emergency signal, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz held a security consultation, and Israeli fighter jets were scrambled, according to an Israeli military spokesperson.
Diplomatic Context of the Saudi Airspace Arrival
The emergency landing in Tabuk marked a rare mass arrival of Israelis in Saudi Arabia, a country that maintains no formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to Israel-bound flights and Israeli airlines in 2022 as part of a United States-brokered normalization push. Riyadh maintains that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without an independent Palestinian state.