A flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverts to Saudi Arabia after making distress call

NPR | By Kat Lonsdorf

Published September 30, 2026 at 9:35 AM EDT

Media representatives gather along with passengers at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday after a flydubai plane bound for Tel Aviv was forced to land in Saudi Arabia following an "incident," the airline said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — A commercial flight traveling from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing after issuing an emergency alert onboard.

Both the pilot and co-pilot have been hospitalized although what exactly happened is unclear.

The flydubai plane made an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, near the Jordanian border.

In a statement, flydubai acknowledged that flight FZ 1073 "experienced an incident" while en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv, and said that all passengers are safe and accounted for. It did not offer more details.

Saudi authorities said they received a distress call from the flight and that the pilot and co-pilot were hospitalized upon landing, after sustaining injuries onboard. No further information was provided on the nature of the injuries or how they came about.

Many of the passengers now stranded in Saudi Arabia are Israeli.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding consultations over the incident and "monitoring developments," his office said.

This is a developing story that will be updated.