An Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane that took off from Addis Ababa in the early hours of Monday was denied permission to enter Israeli airspace after authorities discovered that one of its pilots was an Indonesian national, from a country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel, the latter’s Ynet portal reports.
According to Israeli aviation regulations, pilots who are citizens of countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel cannot fly into the country.
After being denied landing in Israel, the plane dumped fuel over the sea and returned to Ethiopia.
After replacing the aforesaid pilot, the plane headed back to Israel and landed at Tel Aviv airport.
Following the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight recently, Israeli authorities have tightened airspace control and begun more closely checking the lists of crew members and passengers on flights bound for Israel, Ynet adds.