Air France crew can opt out of Iran flights over Headscarf Troubles

Women employees of Air France will now be allowed to opt out of working on scheduled flights to Iran to avoid having to wear a headscarf, a company official said today. The airline will appoint a "special unit" to replace those who do not want to fly to Tehran, he said. "Any woman assigned to the Paris-Tehran flight who for reasons of personal choice would refuse to wear the headscarf upon leaving the plane will be reassigned to another destination, and thus will not be obliged to do this flight," human resources official Gilles Gateau told Europe 1 radio.

 Air France is to resume on April 17 its Paristo Tehran service which had been suspended since 2008 due to international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Now that most sanctions again Iran have been dropped in wake of rising economic developments and recent landmark nuclear deals with Iran from other global superpowers, Air France have now begun resuming flight operations.

 Unions say company executives sent staff an internal memo regarding flights to Tehran saying that female cabin crew would be required to wear trousers on board with a loose fitting jacket and must cover their hair with a scarf when they leave the plane. The headscarf rule is already in place when flying to certain destinations such as Saudi Arabia.

Iran requires women to cover their heads with headscarves and wear pants or long skirts. Men are expected to wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts. German carrier Lufthansa has been flying to Iran for years, and said it has never had staff complain about wearing the traditional dress when exiting the plane in Tehran. Lufthansa have now plans to increase that service due to rising demand.

With the recent issue from Air France staff refusing to de-board the plane with headscarves only escalates issues and tensions that can arise as the West resumes business relations with Iran.