A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a cockpit altercation sparked a distress call, prompting Israel to scramble fighter jets. The incident puts the spotlight on a low-cost airline that has become a key link for Israeli travelers to the Gulf as regional aviation seeks to recover from the fallout of the US-Iran war.

What happened: FlyDubai Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 Max 8 carrying 174 passengers, was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv when an incident occurred in the cockpit, according to the airline. Israeli security agencies feared that the plane had been hijacked. 

The aircraft transmitted a 7700 emergency code as it neared Israeli airspace and descended from about 34,000 feet to around 16,000 feet, significantly below its normal cruising altitude for the route, according to flight-tracking data. The distress signal prompted a response from Israeli security agencies and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said one pilot had apparently tried to crash the aircraft. FlyDubai has said the reasons and motives are unknown and were under investigation. The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely. 

The flight was one of FlyDubai’s regular services between Dubai and Tel Aviv. The airline launched scheduled flights between the two cities to fanfare in Israel in November 2020 following the normalization of relations with the UAE via the Abraham Accords. What began as two daily flights has since grown substantially, and the airline now operates up to 10 flights a day in each direction between Israel and the UAE.