Flydubai and Emirates suspend Israel flights after security incident forces diversion

UAE carriers flydubai and Emirates suspended all flights to and from Israel on Thursday, 1 October, following a security incident on a Dubai–Tel Aviv service that forced an emergency diversion to Saudi Arabia. Security incident forces Saudi diversion The suspension follows an altercation in the flight deck of flydubai flight FZ1073 on Wednesday, 30 September, as the aircraft approached Ben Gurion Airport. The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) confirmed the situation was brought under control after the crew secured the aircraft and diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Some crew members sustained injuries and were transported to a Saudi hospital, while all passengers were reported safe and later transported on replacement aircraft. Following the incident, flydubai cancelled at least 10 scheduled services between Dubai and Tel Aviv for Thursday. Emirates concurrently suspended its codeshare operations on these routes, stating that passengers with Tel Aviv as their final destination will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin until further notice. Widespread cancellations at DXB and Zayed International Disruption extended beyond Israel routes as regional tensions and operational adjustments affected schedules at Dubai International (DXB) and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi. DXB reported cancellations for Emirates flights to Peshawar, Sialkot, Kuwait, Phuket, and Moscow. Air Arabia also cancelled multiple services between Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and…