According to reports from Israel’s Channel 12 and Ynet News, the Omani co-pilot of Dubai Airline Flight 1073, Hamam al-Hammami, had initially planned to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
On September 30th, as Flight FZ1073 was en route from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv, the co-pilot, under the guise of praying, began attacking the Indian captain with a safety axe. Passengers and 8 crew members on board managed to subdue the co-pilot, averting a disaster.
On Monday, Israeli media reported that al-Hammami had been arrested by UAE authorities and was under interrogation. He revealed to investigators that his plan was to continue flying the plane normally after incapacitating the captain, secure all necessary landing permits, and then crash into a building or another aircraft at the airport.
He believed that by changing the flight path at the last moment, he could evade detection and prevent alarms from being triggered, thus allowing him to carry out his plan undetected.
Channel 12 in Israel noted that al-Hammami waited until the plane was over Jordanian airspace before attempting to seize control of the cockpit. Despite being attacked and stabbed by al-Hammami, the captain managed to open the cockpit door, enabling several Israeli civilians onboard to overpower al-Hammami. One individual even successfully stabilized the aircraft and handed control over to two off-duty pilots who were passengers.
Al-Hammami had been flying on Dubai Airline flights to Ben Gurion Airport multiple times in recent months. He told investigators that he had been fully dedicated to gathering intelligence and planning the attack since he arrived at the airport in June.
He had initially planned to carry out the attack in July, but due to a crew member being his friend, he ultimately canceled the plan at the last minute.
Israeli investigators did not personally interrogate him, as the information was provided by Saudi and UAE authorities. Israel has requested the UAE to expand the scope of the investigation to include the crew members.
Meanwhile, Channel 13 reported that al-Hammami informed investigators, “I researched which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That’s why I chose Dubai Airline. I had planned everything even before being hired.”
Israeli political analyst Amit Segal stated in a social media post, “A few days ago, we believed that without the heroic actions of the passengers on Flight 1073, nearly 180 people on board (including 27 children) would have likely perished. Now we understand that without the courage of Captain Machal, Yaniv Hayun, Tzvika Mans, and Assaf Rajuan, the disaster we would have faced could have been far worse than what happened on October 7.”
The flight was scheduled to land around 9:30 AM that day, during a peak travel period, making the airport traffic particularly busy. Upon arrival, there would have been tens of thousands of passengers in the terminal, and the potential death toll could have reached into the thousands.
“If his original plan had succeeded, this would have been the most severe attack in Israeli history, with resulting disruptions to air routes far beyond just one,” Segal wrote.
He analyzed that according to the Abraham Accords signed previously, cutting off the 30 daily flights between the two countries would have been severely impactful. The gradually warming relations between the UAE and Israel would have been completely frozen, and the potential isolation impact on Israel from the attack would have exceeded any previous Hamas attacks.