Flydubai co-pilot planned to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport or building, reports say

What happened

According to the BBC, the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073, named in multiple reports as Hamam al-Hammami, continued to be questioned in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the weekend, with Israeli representatives being kept updated on the probe. Israeli media, citing sources familiar with the investigation, reported that the co-pilot told investigators that after attacking Capt Smit Machchhar, he intended to keep flying the plane as normal into Israeli airspace and obtain landing clearance from Ben Gurion airport. He then planned to crash the Boeing 737 MAX — carrying more than 180 passengers — into the airport or into a tower block in central Tel Aviv, in a manner resembling al-Qaeda's 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.

Sources say he most likely acted alone rather than on behalf of a radical organisation or a foreign government. The co-pilot also reportedly told investigators he had intended to hijack and crash a previous flight to Tel Aviv but changed his mind because he knew someone on board. Neither Emirati nor Israeli authorities have commented so far.

Investigation continues

UAE Attorney-General Hamad al-Shamsi said on Saturday that the investigation would establish the full circumstances, motives and any possible links, with results to be announced once it concludes.

Security failures questioned

Questions are being raised about serious security lapses, including how the attacker was hired by flydubai and cleared to fly a plane carrying Israeli passengers. Regional officials say the co-pilot had been barred from flying by Oman's national carrier, Oman Air, and moved to an administrative role over concerns about his extremist views. He was later hired by UAE-based flydubai after standard security checks that, according to the officials, did not examine his background for signs of radicalisation.

Israeli aviation regulations state that pilots who are citizens of countries without formal diplomatic ties with Israel, such as Oman, are not permitted to operate flights there. Regional officials told the Associated Press that Emirati authorities had shared passenger and crew lists with Israel ahead of flight FZ1073's departure. Israel's Shin Bet security agency said the transport ministry was responsible for vetting such lists, but Transport Minister Miri Regev said her ministry had not received the lists and that security oversight for foreign airlines' flights fell under the Shin Bet and the Mossad foreign intelligence agency.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told the head of the National Security Council to review all security aspects concerning foreign civil aviation to Israel. Australian authorities are investigating the co-pilot's links to Australia — local media report, according to sources, that he studied there between 2015 and 2017.