Flydubai co-pilot planned suicide attack on Israeli airport, UAE prosecutors say | Flydubai plane incident

The co-pilot who tried to take control of a jetliner flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week planned to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Israel’s international airport, United Arab Emirates prosecutors said Friday.

Hammam al-Hammami attacked the plane’s Indian pilot with a rescue axe, but failed to prevent his seriously injured colleague from opening the cockpit safety door to allow passengers to subdue his attacker.

The passengers then attempted to control the plane, which was landed safely in Saudi Arabia by an off-duty relief pilot who was among about 180 passengers.

Dr. Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, the UAE’s attorney general, said Friday that al-Hammami, who is in Emirate custody, admitted to attempting to carry out a “premeditated terrorist plot to… launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal of Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, with the aim of causing as many deaths as possible.”

The 29-year-old, who was hired by flydubai, a government-owned budget airline, began a process of radicalization while studying in Australia when he was influenced by hardline takfiri ideology by reading extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organizations and suicide bombings, al-Shamsi said in a statement.

“(Al-Hammami) then developed … ideas advocating violence and terrorism. He was also inspired by the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the idea of ​​carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly anchored in his thinking. According to his confession, this was linked to his decision to pursue a career in aviation.”

Over the weekend, Australian security agencies launched an investigation after it emerged that Al-Hammami had spent around two years in the country as a student until 2017. He left the country without completing his engineering degree.

New Zealand authorities launched their own investigation after police confirmed that al-Hammami had taken flight training in that country about a year after dropping out of school in Australia.

Much concern has been raised over how al-Hammami was able to pass the selection exams and join a crew heading to Israel. An Omani national, he completed a distance learning degree in Aviation Management from Buckinghamshire New University in 2023 and was employed by Oman Air from 2020-24, joining Royal Air Maroc in early 2025 and working there for several months before joining flydubai in January 2026.

Security officials have been investigating whether al-Hammami was acting alone or involved himself with a group such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, which could suggest that further attacks of this type could be planned. Emirates authorities believe this is not the case.

“In the presence of his lawyer and with all legal guarantees assured, the suspect provided a detailed confession describing his motivations and the stages of planning and execution. He admitted that he had acted alone, without the participation of others, although investigations continue to verify this claim,” al-Shamsi said.

Investigators found that al-Hammami had used two previous flights to Tel Aviv to “familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport”, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.

The passengers on board the plane were predominantly Israeli, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praising them and the pilot for their courage after the foiled attack.