How Oman Air stopped Hamam al-Hammami from flying…

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Hammami, 29, was born to an Omani father and Syrian mother. Although a Dubai resident, he frequently travelled to Syria during the country’s prolonged civil war, where Islamist rebels fought against the Bashar al-Assad regime. Investigators in the flydubai incident said they were looking at the possibility of radicalisation during his time in Syria.

He then went on to study in Australia. He joined Oman Air in 2018 and became a pilot by 2022, although authorities raised concerns in 2024 about his radical views after he was found browsing extremist websites. He was disallowed from flying and made to undergo a deradicalisation programme, following which he was assigned an administrative job.

After leaving Oman Air in 2025, Hammami tried to join the Moroccan national carrier Royal Air Maroc but wasn’t hired. He eventually joined the budget carrier flydubai, owned by the Dubai’s flagship Emirates Airline, in February 2026. 

…but the UAE didn’t

Flydubai has been in the midst of an aggressive hiring spree to fuel its growth. Global demand for pilots is high and to meet its requirements, the airline set up a programme in 2025 to train pilots. It also operates its own flight training centre.

Story continues below this ad

As things stand, international aviation licensing works on a country-by-country basis. Citing sources, The Wall Street Journal reported that Oman mishandled the situation: had Oman withdrawn Hammami’s pilot licence over its concerns, the matter would’ve been flagged to the UAE and other Gulf countries.

At the time of hiring, flydubai didn’t contact Oman to verify his experience, although a criminal-background check was done, sources within the airline said. Hammami was then assigned to fly on the sensitive route to Tel Aviv, where he flew multiple times. The airline said it wouldn’t comment on the investigation while it was ongoing.

How Israel’s security system failed to avert flydubai incident

According to a 2023 law passed in Israel, foreign airlines have to submit lists of passengers and crew to the Israeli government ahead of time. A database of these lists are maintained by the country’s Tax Authority, primarily as a measure of preventing terrorism.

Although the Shin Bet — Israel’s internal security service — oversees the domestic carriers, it is the Ministry of Transportation that oversees pilots and crew on flights of foreign airlines to ensure they come from countries Israel considers “friendly”.

Story continues below this ad

As per the law, the Tax Authority’s database can be accessed by authorised bodies such as the Transportation Ministry as well as Israeli security agencies like Shin Bet and Mossad in order to vet people on flights.

The ministry, however, said it didn’t know that the database was operational — or that it could access it. Since the database was set up in 2023, the ministry has never asked for a passenger or crew list for vetting purposes, sources told WSJ.

The ministry also said that while it was indeed responsible for the security of inbound flights, it lacked the intelligence capabilities to stop onboard threats. Foreign carriers were required to make those checks and in this case, it had asked flydubai — the ministry said that the airline agreed in writing to check its pilots’ backgrounds and nationalities.

The final opportunity to stop Hammami from getting onboard FZ1073 was in Israel itself. Notably, Oman doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel, and pilots from such countries are barred from flying to the country. So, the co-pilot could’ve been stopped from boarding the flight merely on the basis of his nationality, but was instead allowed to fly multiple times to Tel Aviv instead.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, a classified May 2024 report by Israel’s comptroller general had flagged the country’s Transportation Ministry for failing to adequately secure foreign carriers’ flights, WSJ reported. It found that officials in the ministry were failing in their oversight in part due to manpower and budget issues. Although Israeli airlines flying between Dubai and Tel Aviv were subjected to scrutiny and even stopped from flying considering the risks posed by the ongoing war in West Asia, flydubai continued to ply on the same route.