Month after thwarted flydubai terror attack, Israel issues stringent new directives affecting all airlines

A month after an Omani copilot tried to crash a flydubai plane full of Israeli passengers en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv, in a terror attack foiled by the plane’s Indian pilot and a small group of Israeli passengers who tackled the terrorist, Israeli authorities today finally issued new, stringent directives to both foreign and Israeli airlines requiring them to submit crew information 48 hours prior to departure, amid other steps to bolster security.

The new directives also require that any further updates regarding crew are submitted no later than two hours before takeoff, and that a final list is issued at takeoff. Bloomberg reports that the measures were ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a security review, and are intended to allow adequate time for background checks.

The directives were issued by the National Center for Passenger Data Analysis, which operates the Tax Authority, and apply to all incoming and outgoing flights operated by all airlines, foreign and Israeli.

According to Israel’s Channel 13 news, all non-Israelis flying in and out of Israel — pilots, cabin crew and passengers — will henceforth be required to complete an online form 48 hours before entry to Israel, which will be reviewed by the Population Authority.

Furthermore, the Mossad and Shin Bet have designated certain countries as “red” countries and will review entry forms and visa applications from would-be arrivals from these countries, Channel 13 reports.

The Shin Bet, which hitherto oversaw security relating to Israeli airlines and provided the “security blanket” for all flights departing Israel, will from now be responsible for airline security procedures relating to incoming foreign airlines and their overseas departure points.

The near-disaster about Flight 1073 on September 30 exposed major flaws in Israel’s security procedures, especially for incoming foreign flights, with no effective oversight of the airlines’ vetting of pilots, no Israeli vetting of the crews, and aircrew lists routinely submitted only after planes have taken off. Unconfirmed reports said that some 1,240 aircrew members from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel have entered the country over the past year.

The terrorist copilot Hamam al-Hammami had been grounded by Oman Air after it was discovered he was in possession of extremist materials, was nonetheless hired by flydubai, and intermittently worked the Dubai-Tel Aviv route.

The Channel 13 report also noted that the two off-duty flydubai pilots who took over the controls after Hammami had been immobilized, and who performed an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, have been cleared of any suspicion of cooperation with the terrorist at any stage.