Dubai-Tel Aviv Flight News Live Updates: After hijack scare, mid-air stabbing on Flydubai Israel flight, 2nd diverted
A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia following a violent cockpit altercation. Israel confirmed the incident was not a hijacking.
“We heard screams on the plane.
Then they opened the cockpit, and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife,” the unnamed woman told the network via text message. It is believed that a violent altercation developed between the two pilots. The woman said that the Israeli passengers helped restrain an attacker along with members of the crew. “We prayed, ‘Shema Yisrael,’” she says. “There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive….”
flydubai (FlyDubai / FZ), specifically flight FZ1073, not Emirates.
bbc.co.uk
On September 30, 2026, flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai International (DXB) to Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion/TLV) experienced a mid-air incident involving a violent altercation between the pilots (reports describe one stabbing the other, blood in/near the cockpit, screams, and passengers helping restrain the attacker). The plane transmitted emergency (7700) and then unlawful interference/hijack (7500) codes, descended sharply, diverted, and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All passengers were reported safe.
reuters.com
This is widely covered by BBC, Reuters, Jerusalem Post, NYT, CNN, and others as a flydubai Boeing 737 (MAX) flight. Emirates was not involved; flydubai is a separate Dubai-based low-cost carrier that operates the Dubai–Tel Aviv route.