An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight bound for Tel Aviv was ordered to turn around mid-air overnight between Sunday and Monday after Israeli authorities discovered that one of its pilots was an Indonesian national, according to Israeli media reports. The aircraft had been airborne for about an hour and was still inside Ethiopian airspace when the crew was told to return.
FAKTA
- The flight: an Ethiopian Airlines cargo service from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv, sent back roughly one hour after departure while still in Ethiopian airspace.
- The reason: one of the pilots held Indonesian citizenship. Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and its nationals are barred from operating flights to Israel under tightened crew-screening rules.
- How it surfaced: Israeli intelligence and airport authorities flagged the pilot’s nationality once the crew manifest reached them. Israeli broadcasters Channel 12 and N12, and Channel 13, reported the incident.
- The outcome: the plane returned to Addis Ababa, the Indonesian pilot was replaced, and the aircraft took off again, landing at Ben Gurion Airport with no further reported trouble.
- The airline’s position: Ethiopian Airlines described the episode as an administrative mistake, saying it had not realized the pilot was barred from flying to Israel.
Crew manifest reached authorities after takeoff
According to a Channel 13 report, the trouble began on the ground: Ethiopian Airlines submitted its crew list to Israeli authorities only after the aircraft had already departed. By the time officials reviewed the documents and spotted the Indonesian pilot, the plane was an hour into its journey, leaving them little choice but to order it back.
The airline reportedly said it had not known that a pilot of that nationality could not operate a flight to Israel. The aircraft landed in Addis Ababa, the crew was changed, and the flight departed a second time.
Tighter crew screening after the Flydubai hijacking scare
Israel has been tightening its rules for foreign airline crews since September 30, when an Omani co-pilot on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv allegedly tried to seize the controls and crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport. Passengers intervened, the attempt was thwarted, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The incident exposed gaps in crew vetting. Last week, N12 reported that the Knesset’s Intelligence Subcommittee was told more than 1,200 aviation crew members from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel — including Iran — may have entered the country, a claim that reportedly surprised the Transportation Ministry’s representative. An investigation found the ministry had failed for years to properly check the security of foreign airline crews.
Indonesia and Israel’s closed skies
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel and does not recognize it diplomatically. Airlines staffing flights to Israeli airports must now check crew nationalities in advance — a requirement that caught Ethiopian Airlines off guard and forced a mid-air U-turn over an administrative failure rather than any incident on board.
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