Air France’s female staff can opt out of Iran flights over headscarf

Women employees of Air France will be allowed to opt out of working on its upcoming resumed flights to Iran to avoid having to wear a headscarf, a company official said Monday.

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.

On April 17, Air France will resume its Paris-to-Tehran service, which were suspended in 2008 because of international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

Unions say company executives sent staff an internal memo regarding flights to Tehran, saying that female cabin crew would be required to wear trousers with a loose fitting jacket while on board, 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.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives at his hotel in Paris for the start of his two-day official visit to France, January 27, 2016. (AFP/Eric Feferberg)

French labor unions, who held talks with the human resources chief on Monday, argued that an escape clause was already in place for flights to Conakry in Guinea during the Ebola crisis last year and for services to Tokyo following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.