Flydubai to temporarily suspend all flights to and from Israel

Airline Flydubai will temporarily suspend all flights to and from Israel while an incident in which a pilot attacked colleagues during a flight is investigated. This was reported on September 30 in a statement on the carrier’s website, according to Izvestia.

“In connection with the incident involving flight FZ 1073, and in coordination with the relevant authorities, FlyDubai flights to and from Israel will be suspended for the duration of the investigation,” the statement said.

The statement noted that the safety and well-being of passengers and crew is the company’s highest priority. The temporary restrictions will allow the relevant authorities to continue their work and establish all the circumstances of the incident.

A FlyDubai aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv sent a brief emergency signal on September 30, then transmitted the code used to report a hijacking. According to preliminary information, the first officer stabbed the captain and then tried to crash the plane. The injured person was an Indian national. Passengers on the flight helped subdue the attacker.

The aircraft made an emergency landing in the Saudi city of Tabuk, and in the evening a rescue flight took the passengers on to Tel Aviv.