GCAA denies hijacking of a flydubai plane in Iranian airspace

Contrary to reports on social media, incident related to air-rage according to the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority

Flydubai will use Terminal 3 for 10 of its destinations from December 2. EPA

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) denied on Wednesday reports that were being circulated on social media about an attempt to hijack a plane belongs to the budget national carrier flydubai in Iranian airspace.

Saif Al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA, emphasised that flight FZ301, which was heading from Dubai to Kabul, had returned to Dubai and that all the passengers resumed their journey on a flight that left Dubai International Airport at 8.31am.

“The accidental incident happened as a result of a behaviour of one of the passengers who was detained by the competent authorities upon the arrival of the plane to the airport,” he explained.

Some initial reports on social media had suggested that a passenger on the plane had tried to the access cockpit by threatening cabin crew with a knife.