A commercial flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Israel made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a cockpit dispute briefly sparked fears of a hijacking and led Israel to scramble fighter jets.
Israeli media, citing security officials, reported that the incident was linked to a clash between the two pilots. All passengers and crew were safe.
The aircraft landed in Tabuk, a Saudi city that hosts both civilian and military facilities.
Publicly available flight-tracking data showed that the FlyDubai aircraft issued an emergency alert soon after departing Dubai.
A regional official briefed on the matter said a physical confrontation had broken out in the cockpit and apparently involved the pilots. The official said the cause of the dispute was not immediately known.
A second official confirmed that Israel had launched warplanes as authorities feared the aircraft, which was carrying dozens of Israeli citizens, might have been hijacked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cautioned in recent days about unspecified but heightened security threats.
Both officials spoke anonymously because the incident remained under investigation.
Netanyahu’s office later said the situation was under control and that Israel was working to arrange the passengers’ return home.
Emergency landings prompted by disputes among flight crew are uncommon, though they have happened before. In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after fighting in the cockpit during a Geneva-to-Paris flight. That aircraft was not diverted and completed its journey as scheduled.
Passengers told Israel’s Channel 12 by telephone that they heard shouting from people near the front of the aircraft, who had apparently witnessed the confrontation between the pilots. They also said the plane dipped sharply before landing in Saudi Arabia.
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The passengers said they remained aboard the aircraft, which was surrounded by a heavy presence of Saudi security forces.
FlightRadar data indicated that the incident occurred roughly two and a half hours after takeoff. FlyDubai is the low-cost sister airline of Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates has become a popular holiday destination for Israeli travelers since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 2020.
FlyDubai later confirmed that flight FZ 1073, which was traveling to Ben Gurion Airport, had experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday.
“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the airline said. “Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”
Flight-tracking information identified the aircraft as a Boeing 737 Max 8.
FlyDubai operates an all-737 fleet, made up of twin-engine, single-aisle aircraft widely used by airlines worldwide. The carrier has nearly 100 planes, including 69 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.
The flight departed from Dubai International Airport, by far the busiest airport in the Middle East and the world’s largest airport for international passenger traffic. It processed a record 95.2 million passengers last year.
Israeli citizens were targeted in a series of hijackings and attacks on aircraft carried out by Palestinian militants during 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.
