The Omani co-pilot suspected of attempting to crash flydubai Flight FZ1073 did not hold a second nationality, according to sources cited by The Jerusalem Post. The report addresses questions that emerged after the September 30 incident over how an Omani national was assigned to an Israel-bound flight. The aircraft was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when an emergency unfolded in the cockpit, forcing it to divert to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

According to the report, sources familiar with the investigation said the co-pilot held only Omani citizenship. Oman does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel. The disclosure followed questions over whether the pilot might have possessed another nationality that could have explained his assignment to the Tel Aviv route. The Jerusalem Post also reported that sources disputed the interpretation that the Israel-UAE aviation agreement itself required pilots operating between the two countries to be nationals of states maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.

The issue remains connected to earlier statements from Israel's Transportation Ministry concerning flydubai's operating arrangements. A ministry source had previously told the Jerusalem Post that the airline's agreement to operate in Israel required pilots to be citizens of countries that had established diplomatic ties with Israel. The differing accounts about the aviation agreement and the airline's operating conditions have become part of the questions being examined following the incident.

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The flight incident occurred while FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Israeli officials said the co-pilot attacked Indian Captain Smit Machchhar during the flight, after which the aircraft experienced a rapid loss of altitude. Machchhar was able to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to intervene, while additional flydubai pilots who were travelling on the aircraft subsequently took control and landed the plane safely in Tabuk.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the co-pilot underwent Islamist radicalisation and described him as suicidal, while also saying it was too early to determine his connections to Iran. Those statements remain claims made during an ongoing investigation, and authorities have not publicly established a definitive motive. The UAE has ordered an investigation into whether the incident involved terrorist activity, prior planning or direction.

The incident has also prompted scrutiny of the procedures governing the assignment of pilots to Israel-bound flights. While the co-pilot's nationality and the circumstances of his assignment are being examined, investigators have yet to establish the full motive or circumstances surrounding the cockpit attack. The latest report that he held no second nationality narrows one of the questions raised after the incident but does not by itself establish how the flight assignment was approved.

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