Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held another situation assessment with senior defense and aviation officials Wednesday following the incident aboard a flyDubai flight bound for Israel that was diverted to Saudi Arabia after the Omani co-pilot allegedly attempted to crash the aircraft.
A rescue aircraft dispatched by flyDubai landed in Saudi Arabia, and the Israeli passengers stranded in the kingdom began preparing to board for the return flight to Israel.
“They’re starting to put us on the plane,” one passenger told ynet.
The flight is expected to land at Ben Gurion Airport between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. However, some passengers refused to board the flyDubai aircraft, saying they were afraid to fly with the airline following the incident.
Meanwhile, Israeli investigators are increasingly assessing that the co-pilot planned to crash the aircraft in order to kill the Israelis onboard.
An initial investigation has raised the possibility that the Emirati pilot who prevented the co-pilot from crashing the plane, with help from some of the Israeli passengers, used an emergency axe kept in the cockpit and intended for breaking a window.
According to that possibility, the pilot struck or stabbed the co-pilot with the axe while attempting to overpower him.
Investigators have apparently ruled out an earlier suggestion that the co-pilot had managed to bring an axe aboard the aircraft, since flight crews undergo strict security screening before boarding.
However, investigators are also examining the opposite possibility: that the co-pilot, who is suspected of planning the attack, used the axe against the pilot who tried to stop him.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev, meanwhile, asked Netanyahu to immediately suspend flyDubai flights to Israel until the circumstances of the incident are clarified.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev
(Photo: Kobi Koankes)
Regev said flyDubai had violated the aviation agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which she said permits only pilots from countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel to land in the country.
An Israeli official said the Omani pilot had never previously landed in Israel.
A Transportation Ministry official said in explaining Regev’s position: “This is a mega-event. We came very close to a major disaster that was prevented.”
Regev is also demanding that Israeli airlines be immediately allowed to resume flights to Dubai with Israeli security screening. Israeli carriers are currently barred from flying to Dubai because of a dispute over security requirements.
The incident also had an immediate economic impact. Shares in Israeli airlines El Al and Israir jumped about 7% and more than 9%, respectively, on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
The emerging assessment that the flyDubai incident may have been an attempted terrorist attack could lead more Israeli passengers to favor Israeli carriers, which employ Israeli pilots, many of them former Air Force personnel, and operate under a stringent security system partly funded by the state.