Hijack alarm on the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv: violent brawl between the pilots forced the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia

A Flydubai aircraft with around 180 passengers on board, flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, transmitted emergency signals in the early hours of Wednesday and was forced to land at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, as CNN reports.

According to flight data reviewed by CNN, the aircraft descended 17,400 feet — from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet — over northwestern Saudi Arabia in little more than two minutes at around 1:20 a.m. Eastern Time, transmitted the emergency signal at 1:32 and landed shortly before 3 a.m. The aircraft first issued the general emergency code 7700, then code 7500, which indicates “unlawful interference” or a possible hijacking.

A Flydubai spokesperson said flight FZ1073 “experienced an incident en route” and landed at Tabuk airport, adding that all passengers are safe and have been accounted for. Sources told CNN the alert was caused by a “violent incident” between the two pilots in the cockpit — and an Israeli official confirmed it was not a hijacking but an “internal personnel incident on board.”

The incident triggered a major security alert in Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz held an urgent security consultation, while IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held a situation assessment with the Air Force commander and military intelligence officials. According to CNN, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled after the emergency signal was transmitted.

Netanyahu’s office stated that “the situation is under control and all measures are being taken to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel safely.” The emergency landing in Tabuk marked a rare mass arrival of Israelis in Saudi Arabia, a country with no diplomatic relations with Israel; the passengers are awaiting a replacement aircraft to take them to Israel.