Hijacker rehearsed Tel Aviv airport attack twice before flight

The flydubai co-pilot who attacked his colleague to hijack the plane during a flight to Tel Aviv last month made that trip two previous times to familiarise himself with the route and the airport, according to the UAE state-run news agency WAM.

The co-pilot told authorities he acted alone but that he drew inspiration from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, WAM said on Friday, citing Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi.

The update from the UAE contains the most detailed account so far of the attack, as well as the co-pilot’s history and the events contributing to what the agency described as his extremist views.

The 29-year-old Omani co-pilot, previously identified as Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the captain of flydubai Flight FZ1073, which was travelling from Dubai on September 30, with the intent of crashing the plane into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The aim of the premeditated plot was to cause “the greatest possible loss of life”, WAM said.

The plane plunged more than 4000 metres in less than 30 seconds before passengers, a separate pilot onboard and cabin crew were able to subdue the co-pilot and stabilise the aircraft.

According to WAM, the pilot who intervened was assigned to the return flight and happened to be near the cockpit when the attack occurred. “He noticed the cockpit door opening and closing repeatedly in an unusual manner, which aroused his suspicions,” the news agency said. He attempted to enter the cockpit using the access code and witnessed the attack after gaining entry, it said.

The return-flight captain and his co-pilot safely landed the plane at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.

According to the news agency, al-Hammami began gravitating toward extremism in 2017 when he was studying in Australia, where he was influenced by radical ideology through reading and watching online content glorifying terrorism.

Before joining flydubai in January 2026, al-Hammami was employed by Royal Air Maroc, beginning in early 2025, and Oman Air before that from 2020 to 2024, WAM said.

The UAE said it looked at flydubai’s procedures for recruiting al-Hammami. Investigators found that he met the requirements for employment, including holding a pilot’s license, providing a certificate of good conduct and completing necessary checks, the state-run news agency said. “However, none of the procedures revealed any indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist plot,” it said.

The suspect gave a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution in “the presence of his lawyer and with all legally prescribed safeguards ensured”, WAM said, without identifying the attorney. The investigation into the co-pilots’ actions remains ongoing.