A Flydubai flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after an incident in the cockpit, with Israel’s defense minister later saying the episode was an attempted attack to bring down the plane.
Flight FZ1073 was heading to Tel Aviv when a confrontation broke out in the cockpit, according to Flydubai. The crew managed to regain control of the aircraft and diverted it to Tabuk, where it landed safely.
All passengers and crew members were safe, the airline said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later said preliminary information indicated that the incident was an attempt to crash the plane with everyone on board. He described it as an “attempted jihadist attack.”
According to Katz, several Israeli passengers entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker. He said they helped another crew of pilots regain control of the aircraft.
The airline has not confirmed those details. Flydubai said the causes and motives behind the incident remain unknown and are the subject of an official investigation.
“We urge everyone to refrain from premature speculation while the authorities gather the facts,” a company spokesperson said.
The airline said it had sent two replacement flights to Tabuk to take the passengers on to Tel Aviv. A passenger told AFP that travelers had begun leaving Tabuk for Israel.
The incident involved a Boeing 737 operating the Dubai-Tel Aviv route. Earlier Wednesday, Flydubai initially said only that the flight had experienced an “incident” while airborne and had landed safely in Tabuk.
Flydubai said its flights across its wider network were continuing as scheduled and that its priority was the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew involved.
Katz also urged Israelis to take security warnings issued by him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seriously, saying they were based on intelligence.
He did not provide details about the alleged attacker, including the person’s identity or the circumstances that led to the confrontation.
The airline said it would provide further updates as more confirmed information becomes available.
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