FlyDubai has been one of the world’s fastest expanding airlines, nearly doubling its staff since the pandemic to become the go-to low-cost carrier for a travel-hungry region.
It was the first Gulf airline into the country, welcomed at the airport by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A FlyDubai spokesperson pointed to a company statement made in the wake of the near crash. The route between Dubai and Tel Aviv has been suspended since the incident. This year, the discount carrier lowered the flight hours required to apply for a junior, second-officer pilot program. The flight path travels through Saudi Arabian airspace, which is less busy than other parts of the region, and requires less interaction with air-traffic controllers.
Tel Aviv has been one of FlyDubai’s key destinations since the U.A.E. and Israel agreed to normalize relations in 2020. Operations expanded to as many as 10 flights a day at one point, even after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on the country when other airlines pulled out over security concerns. FlyDubai has run recruitment roadshows in the last three years in cities including Milan, Dublin and Warsaw, and last year started a new training program for pilots aged 18 to 30, according to the company and industry promotional material. It opened a new 38,000- square-foot flight training center in Dubai, signed a deal with Boeing to provide in-house flight training and last year launched a new cadet program to train foreign pilots. Captains are offered a monthly salary package in excess of $18,000 and benefits ranging from concessional flight tickets for family and friends, free flights for annual leave, and open-ended contracts.
“FlyDubai continued the whole time, they didn’t stop, which is remarkable,” said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank based in Tel Aviv, who specializes in the Gulf states. The airline said it was cooperating with investigators and said the “safety and wellbeing of our passengers, crew and operations remain our highest priority. It also sweetened advertised salaries for new captains and first officers, according to its website. Aside from the political sensitivity, the airline’s crews typically regard Israel as an appealing route, according to current and former crew.
“Airlines are the lifeblood of Dubai. The city has built its brand around connecting nearly everyone on earth through its airport.
“Even though Dubai sits in a 4-hour flight radius of two billion people, the city is tough to reach by road,” said Jim Krane, an expert on Dubai at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “We are focused on disciplined, strategic growth, expanding our network and strengthening Dubai’s position as a leading global aviation hub,” FlyDubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said at the time.
