Flydubai attack sparks tighter flight screenings, but some security issues left up in air

Israel has rolled out tighter security screening directives for pilots and flight crews in the wake of the flydubai terror attack, but their effectiveness remains clouded by unsettling questions over reliance on foreign airline compliance and major operational hurdles.

A month after the September 30 attempted terrorist crash of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv carrying mostly Israeli travelers, aviation authorities issued more stringent directives requiring airlines flying to Israel to submit crew information 48 hours prior to departure, aimed at giving Israel enough time to screen and flag potential security threats before takeoff.

The new guideline aims to replace Israel’s reliance on foreign airlines to vet crew members themselves, a major security hole exposed when an Omani copilot in the cockpit of Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv attempted to fly the passenger jet into the ground and kill everyone on board.

The attack was thwarted when Indian captain Smit Machchhar, seriously wounded after being stabbed by copilot Hamam al-Hammami, managed to open the cockpit door, allowing alarmed passengers to subdue the assailant. It later emerged that flydubai hired al-Hammami as a pilot despite Omani Air having previously grounded him over concerns about his extremist views.

Two other pilots who happened to be on the flight landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

While Israel is known for having the most thorough security checks in the world, the flydubai incident revealed that the Transportation Ministry was failing to meet its responsibility to vet foreign aircrews arriving in the country due to a lack of intelligence resources.

“For an effective security system, we can’t rely on the trust and goodwill of the other side,” Roy Bargil, CEO of aviation security firm Veloryx, told The Times of Israel. “The new directives are a step in the right direction since the flydubai incident was a wake-up call that there was almost no oversight, and there is a need for background checks to be performed, especially in cooperation with Israeli security authorities.”

Individual countries and airlines are responsible for implementing screening and security standards as set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization, yet substantial flexibility remains in how these guidelines are interpreted and implemented.

Before the revamped security guidelines were introduced, Israeli authorities relied primarily on reporting by foreign airlines rather than performing independent, real-time intelligence or background vetting on individual non-Israeli aircrew members.

Carriers were required to submit crew manifests, but could do so closer to departure time, or even just before takeoff, in line with standards in most other places.

Airlines were expected to comply with rules barring crew members from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, in line with local rules.

Though Oman and Israel do not have ties, flydubai still allowed him to fly to Tel Aviv and Israeli authorities did not catch his presence on the flight until it was too late.

Less than two weeks after the thwarted attack, with attention focused on security flaws, Israeli authorities barred an Ethiopian Airlines flight with an Indonesian pilot from landing at Ben-Gurion, forcing the cargo plane to turn around.

“While Israel needs to do background checks on pilots entering the country, there need to be additional protection mechanisms that extend screening beyond pilots to include other flight personnel and ground crews responsible for maintaining and servicing aircraft,” said Yossi Amrusi, a former senior officer in the Shin Bet security agency and a researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. “Airlines and countries themselves also need to do screening because there is an extent to which we can monitor foreign citizens.”

To close these critical gaps in screening foreign crews, the National Center for Passenger Information Data Analysis, also known as Malan, a division within the Israel Tax Authority, has now mandated a multi-stage reporting scheme including strict nationality criteria for foreign airlines.

Non-Israeli carriers and Israeli airlines operating foreign aircraft flying in and out of Israel will henceforth be required to complete an online form with full details about pilots, cabin crew and passengers at least 48 hours before entering Israel, though last-minute roster changes can be submitted up to two hours before takeoff.

The data will be reviewed by Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, which will approve or reject requests to board passengers and crew members on flights entering Israel, departing from it, or passing through its territory.

However, the new system has not been accompanied by precise operational guidelines that will ensure tighter security background vetting for pilots and crew members, and it’s unclear how Malan will transmit or cross-reference the data it receives to relevant authorities.

The Israel Tax Authority said that Malan is only the data-receiving body and is not responsible for passing records on to relevant agencies unless it is asked.

The Shin Bet security service, which until now oversaw security relating to Israeli airlines and provided the “security blanket” for all flights departing Israel, will now also reportedly be responsible for airline security procedures relating to incoming foreign airlines and their overseas departure points, including designating high-risk nationalities.

Still, it remains unclear to what extent independent, in-depth screening will actually be performed before an aircraft departs, and to what extent Israel will continue to rely on preliminary checks conducted by foreign carriers.

The Shin Bet was not available for comment.

“Closer cooperation between the secret services of different countries which would share and transmit information to Malan would be a better solution instead of putting the liability on airlines,” said David Sprecher, head of aviation at law firm Afik & Co.

Similarly, Amrusi argued that since the threat is global, the “solution must be international.”

“It is not enough to tighten procedures in Israel if foreign carriers operate under different screening systems,” said Amrusi. “Information sharing, joint standards, and cooperation between countries, aviation authorities, and airlines are required.”

Security controls are ultimately only as effective as the oversight and rigid implementation behind them, he added.

Alongside questions of effectiveness, the tightened security rules will produce immediate operational challenges for foreign airlines, many of which have been reluctant to resume regular schedules to Israel following years of wartime disruptions, Sprecher noted.

In particular, rules barring certain nationalities raise acute logistical issues for airlines about crew scheduling, operational compliance, and potential conflicts with employees, he warned.

“The new directives create problems for foreign airlines as they complicate staffing arrangements, especially when there are last-minute changes to crew members because they are sick or have other commitments,” said Sprecher.

Crew members holding single or dual citizenship from some 30 countries that lack formal diplomatic ties with Israel, such as Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Oman, are barred from being scheduled for flights entering Israeli airspace.

The restrictive nationality criteria limit the pool of available reserve crews, making it harder to cover sudden absences without causing flight delays or disrupting operations, he added.

“If pilots don’t fly, they still cost money to airlines, which means they have to reschedule their crew staffing around the world in a very intelligent manner when there is a global shortage of pilots,” said Sprecher. “In a period where we lack tourists in Israel, we complicate the job and tasks of foreign airlines serving Israel.”

Kobi Zussman, Israel country manager at the International Air Transport Association, said that the Israeli government has explained the new guidelines to carriers and asked the association to help communicate the rules to its 380 member airlines worldwide.

“We have only seen some limited concerns expressed which we have passed on to the government, but we are not aware of any significant problems with these rules being adopted,” said Zussman. “However, we continue to monitor the situation.”

The Lufthansa group — which includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said it complies with “all official requirements and local regulations set by the relevant authorities, ensuring smooth and normal operations to the countries we serve.”

“Where regulations relate to safety and security, we do not disclose details publicly,” the group said in an e-mailed statement.

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air, which recently expanded its Israel flight operations, Delta Airlines, and Air France were not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Times of Israel.

Ultimately, Amrusi cautioned that screening improvements alone would be insufficient to provide a comprehensive solution for averting extreme security events, as no administrative system can flag every possible threat.

“No screening is capable with certainty to identify crew members who conceal their malicious or dangerous intentions,” said Amrusi. “To improve the ability to prevent a disaster, we need to have additional protection mechanisms in the form of technological or remote tools which are built to handle a situation where a person manages to slip through the screenings.”