Hamam al-Hammami has been identified as the Omani pilot suspected of attacking his fellow pilot and attempting to hijack a Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai flight on Wednesday.
Al-Hammami, an Omani citizen, was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and Syrian mother and spent several years of his life in the UAE, according to CNN. An Israeli official and Saudi state media have confirmed his identity, according to the outlet.
CNN reviewed a LinkedIn profile bearing the name Hamam al-Hammami that said he worked at Oman Air for seven years, leaving in February 2025, before joining Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and departing in January 2026. The page made no mention of Flydubai. The profile has since been deleted.
The suspect’s LinkedIn page reportedly said he studied at Buckinghamshire New University in England. A university source confirmed to CNN that a man by that name completed a three-year distance-learning course and graduated with a degree in aviation management in 2023. The outlet also reviewed a now-deleted X account that portrayed the Omani national as “deeply religious and misogynistic.”
In deleted posts, al-Hammami reportedly complained that his mother was having trouble finding him a bride willing to wear a niqab and give up her job once they were married.
“They all refused. Then my mother told them, ‘My son is a pilot,’ and they all suddenly agreed,” one post from February 2022 said, according to the outlet.
Al-Hammami was previously removed from flight duties at Oman’s national airline amid concerns about his radical ideological views, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Despite the ban, Flydubai later hired the Omani national, allowing him to fly the route between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, the Journal reported. The newspaper said it could not determine whether Oman had shared its concerns about al-Hammami with other airlines or countries.
Aviation-security analysts told the outlet that the incident exposed potential security failures. Even if a screening lapse allowed a weapon through, they said, a motivated assailant should have been stopped before reaching the airport.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the attacker had undergone Islamist radicalization.
“As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer,” Netanyahu said, according to foreign media. “Yaniv and his heroic friends prevented a disaster on the scale of September 11. The attacker underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers on board. We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
This is a developing story.
🚨 BREAKING: The terrorist FlyDubai co-pilot has reportedly been identified as Hamam Alhamami. pic.twitter.com/TRiNnVqeTS
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 2, 2026
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