TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A commercial plane traveling 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 had transmitted an emergency alert, according to publicly available flight tracking information.
Around two and a half hours after departing from Dubai, it abruptly descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and eventually landing in Tabuk about an hour later, according to FlightRadar24.
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.
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.
Netanyahu’s office later said the situation was under control and Israel was working to bring the passengers home.
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 told Israel’s Ch 12 by phone that they heard shouts from those sitting more forward on 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 a heavy presence of Saudi security forces surrounding them.
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.”
Flight-tracking data indicated that the plane was a Boeing 737 Max 8.
FlyDubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates airlines. The UAE has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalized ties in 2020.
The low-cost carrier’s fleet relies entirely on variants of the 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle aircraft that is widely used by airlines around the world. It has nearly 100 of the planes, including 69 of the Max 8 variant.
Dubai International Airport, where the plane took off from, is by far the Middle East’s busiest airport and the world’s largest in terms of international travel. It handled a record 95.2 million passengers last year.
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 flights have flown between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since the countries normalized ties in 2020.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
