Flydubai announced on Wednesday, September 30, that a plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv had been diverted to Saudi Arabia. Flight FZ1073 is one of the airline’s 10 daily flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
According to passenger testimonies collected by AFP and Israeli media, the aircraft was forced to land in Saudi Arabia following an altercation between the two pilots, during which one pilot stabbed the other. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported this version in a statement on Wednesday, September 30, at around 4 p.m., saying that one of the pilots had stabbed the other and attempted to crash the aircraft.
The aircraft was “successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight”, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport in northern Saudi Arabia, according to a statement made by Flydubai to the BBC. The captain and first officer sustained injuries and were hospitalised.
According to data from the Flightradar24 website, the aircraft suddenly lost altitude during the flight, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet (more than 10 km) to less than 17,000 feet between 05:21 GMT and 05:22 GMT, Al Jazeera reports.
A screenshot from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 shows the aircraft’s trajectory on September 30, 2026.
This incident on the Flydubai flight comes at a crucial time, as tightly contested elections in Israel approach. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the incident as an “attempted jihadist terror attack” and praised Israeli passengers for overpowering the pilot. However, the airline urged people to refrain from “premature speculation”, adding: “At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation.”
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cw980g1lem5pt
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/09/30/un-avion-qui-reliait-dubai-et-tel-aviv-a-ete-deroute-vers-l-arabie-saoudite-les-autorites-israeliennes-n-excluent-aucune-hypothese-y-compris-terroriste_6786055_3210.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/30/flydubai-flight-to-israel-diverted-to-saudi-arabia-after-emergency-alert
0 Comments
No comments yet. You can start the conversation below.