The special repatriation flights intended to return Israeli citizens in Dubai to their country have been halted after the United Arab Emirates withdrew the authorization for Israeli airline planes to land in its territory.
As a direct consequence of this decision, thousands of Israeli travelers remain stranded in Dubai following the incident recorded last week on a Flydubai flight, an alleged "terrorist attack" carried out by the co-pilot of the plane that forced flight FZ1073 to make an emergency landing.
The aircraft ended up landing in Saudi Arabia with its 174 passengers and a crew made up of eight people. All of them received the "necessary attention," and were able to continue their journey to Tel Aviv, except for the captain and the co-pilot, who were admitted to a hospital in the Saudi city of Tabuk.
The Israeli company Arkia "has contacted all relevant parties to regain authorization and operate the flights," as stated in a statement released to the media.
"Unfortunately, these efforts have not been successful so far, which is why we are forced to cancel the flights," the airline added in the same note.
The first Israeli planes coming from Dubai began to land late on Friday at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. To date, nearly 7,500 Israeli passengers have been able to return, according to data provided yesterday by the Israeli Ministry of Transport.