The incident unfolded when al‑Hammami, a 29‑year‑old Omani national, brandished a metal axe and struck Captain Smit Machchhar during a 737‑800 in flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Passengers and the second flight‑crew member quickly subdued him, and the aircraft diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.
Al‑Hammami had been barred from flying in Oman after concerns over extremist views, and he had recently worked for Royal Air Maroc before joining flydubai in February 2025.
Australia, which issued al‑Hammami a student visa in 2014 and cancelled it in 2019 after he left the country, has opened an investigation to verify claims that he studied engineering there for two years.
The UAE, which coordinated the initial arrest, calls the act a terrorist attack and has requested Australian authorities to conduct a full background check, including his LinkedIn posts that surfaced after the incident.
Flydubai said it will cooperate fully with investigators and that the company has already suspended al‑Hammami pending the outcome.