Flydubai requests OK to resume Israel flights as investigation wraps, but Regev says no — report

Flydubai has requested permission to resume its flights to Israel one week after a copilot on one of its planes attempted to carry out a terror attack, saying that an investigation into the attack was concluding and many employees had been fired, Channel 13 reports.

The report says that officials from Israel’s Transportation Ministry have also been invited to tour Dubai next week.

As of now, however, Transportation Minister Miri Regev has declined the airline’s request, the report says.

The Omani copilot, Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the plane’s captain, Smit Machchhar, on the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. He allegedly aimed to crash the plane, killing the approximately 180 people on board, the vast majority of them Israeli. Machchhar and several Israelis succeeded in thwarting the attack and subduing al-Hammami.

The attack has sparked outrage in Israel, where the Transportation Ministry and security establishment face accusations of negligence regarding flight crewmembers from hostile states landing in the country.

Channel 13 reports that, according to draft requirements that have been formulated in the wake of the attack, anyone who isn’t an Israeli citizen, including pilots and crew, would have to fill out a form 48 hours ahead of the flight that will be reviewed by government authorities. Citizens of countries flagged as “red” under the new system would also be screened by the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies.