New Zealand Investigates Training of Alleged Flydubai Hijacker as Inquiry Widens

An investigation into the alleged attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight bound for Israel has widened to include scrutiny of the suspect's flight training in New Zealand, authorities there have confirmed.

New Zealand police have launched their own inquiry into the co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, 29, after confirming that he underwent flight training in the country. According to officials, al-Hammami spent 175 days in New Zealand until May 2019, roughly a year after he abandoned a university degree he had been pursuing in Australia.

The alleged hijacking attempt took place on 30 September, when al-Hammami is accused of trying to take control of a flydubai flight carrying 182 people that was travelling to Tel Aviv. Disaster was narrowly averted after passengers and crew members intervened to stop him.

An Australian Jewish organisation has since called for a full investigation into the time al-Hammami spent in Melbourne, where he had been enrolled in a degree programme before leaving it to pursue flight training abroad.

The case has drawn international attention given the scale of the potential disaster, with investigators now examining al-Hammami's background, education and training history in an effort to understand how the incident came to unfold.

Authorities have not yet disclosed further details of what New Zealand's investigation will specifically examine, or whether its findings will be linked directly to the broader hijacking investigation underway elsewhere.