DOMINANT ANGLE
Madrid is interpreting the FZ1073 incident as a security alert with a dual reading: a "9/11-style attack" according to Israel, a "scuffle" according to the airline, with the legacy of the hijackings of the 1970s in the background.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
According to Netanyahu, quoted by Expansión: "One of the pilots stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane"; another crew member stabilized the aircraft.
- 02
According to Flightradar24, the plane lost nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds and emitted an illicit interference code before landing in Tabouk (Euro Weekly News).
- 03
The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 166 Israelis; the incident recalls the hijackings targeting Israel since 1968 (El País English).
ANALYSIS
Madrid, October 1, 2026. The Spanish press is treating the emergency landing of flydubai flight FZ1073 in Tabouk as an air safety incident, carefully distinguishing between established facts and claims. Expansión, citing a Financial Times investigation, reports that Benyamin Netanyahu said one of the pilots "stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane." The Israeli Prime Minister added that a passenger and a crew member subdued the attacker, who was trying to sabotage the equipment, and another crew member on board entered the cockpit to stabilize the aircraft.
The newspaper details the 6,096-meter drop in a few minutes, according to Flightradar24, and the issuance of a rare "illicit interference" code, sometimes used to signal a hijacking. An Israeli official claims the perpetrator was Omani and describes the attack as planned, "in the style of 9/11." Expansión notes, however, that the pilot's motive was initially unclear, and passengers posted images of blood-stained clothing.
HuffPost España, citing Europa Press, takes a more cautious tone: flydubai confirms an "incident" on board, a "safe" landing in Tabouk, and "all passengers are safe and sound." The site recalls that, according to the Times of Israel, the alert followed a dispute between pilots, without official confirmation from either the airline or Israel, and that the hijacking hypothesis has been ruled out.
Euro Weekly News, an English-language media outlet based in Spain, provides a more dramatic account: a Boeing 737 losing nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds, a general emergency signal, followed by an illicit interference signal, before being diverted to Saudi Arabia.
El País in English takes a step back, recalling that the flight carried 174 passengers, including 166 Israelis, and that the incident revives the specter of hijackings from the 1960s and 1970s, from the first case in 1968 of an El Al Rome-Tel Aviv flight diverted to Algeria by the PFLP. Israel, it notes, still treats these attempts as a current threat, with plainclothes agents, double cockpit doors, and thorough interrogations.
SOURCES (4)
- El Pais EnglishMEDIUM
- HuffPost EspañaMEDIUM
- ExpansiónMEDIUM
- Euro Weekly NewsMEDIUM
