By Yasmine Ghania, Enas Alashray and Federico Maccioni
DUBAI/CAIRO, Oct 9 (Reuters) – An Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended to seize a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on September 30 in a suicide attack before he was thwarted by his fellow pilot, the UAE attorney general said on Friday, according to the state news agency.
The statement by Attorney General Hamad Saif al Shamsi did not appear to implicate flydubai in any wrongdoing, and contained the most detailed account yet from prosecutors about what happened. Flydubai was not immediately available for comment.
The plan was inspired by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, UAE public prosecutors think as a result of their criminal investigation launched on October 1.
It found the suspect had used two previous flights to Tel Aviv to “familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport”, the state news agency WAM reported. It is the first public confirmation of the co-pilot’s 9/11 inspiration.
The incident caused the jet to plunge 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) in 30 seconds.
Al Shamsi said the suspect had previously worked for several airlines in different countries, including Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc, before joining flydubai in January 2026.
Saudi Arabia has launched a separate safety investigation into flight FZ1073’s incident, sources told Reuters. The aircraft was in Saudi airspace when the Omani co-pilot attacked the aircraft’s captain with a crash axe, typically kept in the cockpit for use during emergencies.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray, Yasmine Ghania, Federico Maccioni; Writing by Rod Nickel; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
