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Tel Aviv : A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, briefly raising concerns about a possible hijacking and prompting Israel to scramble warplanes.
Israeli media, citing security officials, said the incident stemmed from a feud between the plane’s two pilots, and everyone on board was safe. The plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the kingdom.
The FlyDubai plane transmitted an emergency alert shortly after takeoff, according to publicly available flight tracking information.
A second official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was still under investigation.
Emergency landings for personnel reasons are rare yet not unheard of. In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after fighting in the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight, though it did not have to be diverted and landed as planned.
Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Ch 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.
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.
According to Flight Radar, the incident occurred about 2 1/2 hours after takeoff.
FlyDubai later confirmed that flight FZ 1073 en route to Ben Gurion experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday.
“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the carrier said. “Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”
Israelis were targeted in a string of hijackings and airplane attacks by Palestinian militants in the 1960s and 1970s. Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades but maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world, including often invasive check-in procedures for Israel-bound flights.
Commercial flight have flown between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since the countries normalized ties in 2020. (AP)
