A flydubai Boeing 737 at Dubai International Airport on October 16, 2021. Archival photograph; it does not depict the September 30, 2026 incident. Photo: N82khan / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. No image edits.
Flydubai’s flights to and from Israel remain suspended as authorities investigate the September 30 cockpit incident that forced a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv service to land in Saudi Arabia. A new Saudi account has added details about the emergency response, but the reason for the incident remains unresolved.
In its latest published statement, the airline says the suspension will continue while investigators work to establish what happened aboard FZ1073. It has not announced a restart date. Flydubai says it is supporting affected passengers and arranging alternatives where possible.
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said preliminary inquiries, conducted with participation from a UAE security team, indicated that the co-pilot assaulted the captain, injuring both men. The ministry’s account was reported by Arab News on October 2. That is a preliminary investigative finding, not a completed account of the events or their motive.
The ministry said the aircraft landed safely in Tabuk at 9:45 a.m. local time on September 30 with 174 passengers and eight crew members. Passengers continued on a replacement flight later that day. Both pilots received hospital treatment and, after medical clearance, traveled to Abu Dhabi on October 1 accompanied by the Emirati security team.
The airline’s earlier account said crew members traveling aboard the flight secured the aircraft and diverted it to Tabuk. Its initial assurance that everyone was accounted for should not be confused with an assertion that nobody was injured: subsequent official accounts describe injuries to crew members.
Separately, UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi has appointed specialist prosecutors to investigate. WAM’s October 1 announcement, reproduced by Gulf News, says investigators will examine circumstances, motives, possible terrorist links and whether advance planning was involved.
Those are questions investigators are examining, not conclusions they have reached. The UAE announcement urges the public to avoid speculation and unverified claims.
For travelers, the immediate practical issue is the airline’s continuing Israel suspension. Check a booking directly with flydubai before heading to the airport, and use the airline’s published updates rather than treating an unchanged flight-tracker listing as confirmation that a service will operate.
