Flydubai plane traveling to Israel diverted to Saudi Arabia after alleged dispute between pilots

Published on 30/09/2026 - 10:16 GMT+2•Updated 12:23

A commercial plane traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as new reports are emerging of a fight between the pilots with one of them being injured, and Israeli media reporting that the incident may have been an attack, but the investigations are ongoing.

The plane carrying 170 passengers landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, a civilian and military base in the kingdom.

Around two and a half hours after departing from Dubai, the FlyDubai plane transmitted a general emergency signal followed by a possible unlawful interference signal, according to flight tracking Flightradar24 portal.

Flightradar24 showed the Boeing 737 abruptly descending from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within 30 seconds, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and eventually landing in Tabuk about an hour later.

The aircraft’s climb and descent as well as its reported high speed are consistent with a struggle for controls.

A regional official briefed on the incident said a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots. It wasn’t immediately clear what had caused the fight, the official said.

Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Channel 12 by phone said they heard shouts from passengers toward the front of the plane who heard the altercation between the pilots and the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.

They also said that all the passengers are staying on the plane and that there is heavy presence of Saudi security forces surrounding them.

Another passenger told Israel’s Channel 15 that when the cockpit door was opened, passengers saw blood inside and they intervened to stop the fight. According to the same passenger, one of the pilots was inured with a folding knife.

The passenger described to Channel 15 the chaotic scenes onboard, with passengers shouting fearing for their lives as the plane engaged into its emergency landing.

Israeli media published a photo purportedly taken inside the plane appearing to show a passengers in a blood stained shirt.

An Israeli official said that Israel believes the incident may have been an attempt to attack Israelis, but the investigation is still ongoing, according to the Associated Press.

Israeli officials confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens.

FlyDubai later confirmed that flight FZ1073 en route to Ben Gurion experienced an "incident" and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday, with all passengers safe and accounted for.

“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the carrier said. "Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu office said the situation was under control and Israel was working to bring the passengers home. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.

FlyDubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates airlines. The United Arab Emirates has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalized ties in 2020.

Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades but maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world.