Saudi Arabia launches investigation into flydubai air safety incident

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Saudi Arabia launches investigation into flydubai air safety incident: sources

October 7, 2026

DUBAI — Saudi Arabia has opened an air accident investigation into last week’s cockpit stabbing aboard a flydubai jet, three people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported.

Aviation experts are now studying what the incident means for flight safety, separate from a criminal investigation already underway led by the UAE.

Safety investigations typically follow aviation accidents, but they are not required when an act is intentional, such as the apparent attempt by a co-pilot to down the Israel-bound flydubai flight on September 30.

Until now, it was unclear if Saudi Arabia would move forward with a formal probe, a step experts say could challenge a long-standing system of international cooperation built to issue safety recommendations rather than assign blame.

Sources said Saudi Arabia informed foreign aviation agencies that it would conduct the safety investigation under international rules, focusing on flight FZ1073.

The plane was flying through Saudi airspace when the co-pilot attacked the captain with an axe.

Saudi Arabia’s National Transport Safety Center, the agency responsible for accident investigations, did not respond to a request for comment. The Saudi government and its aviation regulator also stayed silent when contacted.

FlyDubai pilot Hamam al Hammami stabbed captain and hijack airplane Israel Sep 2026 — Flydubai pilot Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national, who stabbed the captain and attempted to hijack the plane carrying Israeli passengers and crash it while en route to Tel Aviv. September 30, 2026. Photo: Obtained by CNN.

The US National Transportation Safety Board would likely join the probe since the Boeing 737 MAX involved, which survived a sharp dive, was built in the United States. The agency could not be reached for comment.

Under global aviation rules, the UAE is automatically included in the investigation because the aircraft is registered there and flydubai is based in Dubai.

The UAE has already launched its own criminal investigation, with its prosecutor general describing the incident as a terrorist attack.

Israel, whose citizens made up nearly all 172 passengers onboard, has asked to join the Saudi-led safety investigation but has not yet received an invitation, said the head of the nation’s air accident agency.

“We are still waiting for a notification from Saudi Arabia to invite us to take part in the investigation,” said Ofer Vaknin, director of Israel’s Aircraft Safety Investigation Authority.

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not maintain diplomatic ties.

Still, experts note that the decades-old framework for international aviation safety cooperation, credited with sharply lowering accident rates worldwide, has often managed to operate across political divides.

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