A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel has been forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, after an apparent brawl between its pilots prompted distress signals that briefly raised fears of an attempted hijacking.
The FlyDubai flight was over Jordan when it diverted to Saudi Arabia, transmitting three emergency signals, one of which indicated a possible unlawful interference.
The plane dipped dramatically during the reported fight, descending about 16,000 feet in just two minutes.
Israeli officials scrambled fighter jets, fearful of a possible highjacking attempt on a plane containing dozens of Israelis, and the plane landed at Tabuk airport in north-western Saudi Arabia.
Israeli media said that the emergency signal resulted from a brawl between the plane’s two pilots, with a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office confirming that the flight diversion was not because of a hijack attempt.
Authorities were reportedly investigating whether one of the pilots had tried to crash the plane in an apparent attempted suicide, before being stopped by members of the flight crew.
It was not immediately possible to verify those reports. Pictures of a passenger with blood on their shirt were published by Israeli media.
Anonymous Israeli officials told the Associated Press and Israeli media that they were considering the possibility that the incident was an attempt to attack Israelis, but that investigations were still ongoing.
The head of the Israeli military, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir postponed his planned visit to the United States next week over the incident, where he was meant to have a meeting with US joint chiefs of staff and the head of US Central Command.
All passengers were safe and still on the plane, which was being guarded by Saudi security forces. The Israeli air force was waiting for permission from Saudi Arabia to fly the stranded passengers back to Israel.
The circumstances of the brawl between the pilots were still unclear, with passengers’ recounting confusing moments and blood being spilt.
Yasmin Abu Kaiss, whose daughter was on the flight, told Reuters her daughter said she had heard screaming and that a man with a knife put a pilot on the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.
The incident came just days after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned there were indications an attack would be carried out during Israel’s October elections. The Israeli military, quoted by Israeli media, said that they had no intelligence that an attack was being planned on Israel.
Israel experienced a series of hijackings and attacks on planes by Palestinian militants in the 1960s and 1970s, but has not seen any similar incidents in decades. Israel maintains some of the strictest airport security procedures in the world, including security checks before passengers board Israel-bound flights.
Flights between Dubai and Israel started after the two countries normalised ties in 2020. Israel enjoys no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, but in 2025 landed a plane in Riyadh because of a medical emergency.
FlyDubai 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.”
Israeli media reported that a later FlyDubai flight heading to Tel Aviv turned around mid-air back towards Dubai after the incident.
