It seems that the issue of flight attendants’ uniforms is still ongoing, but in other countries!
An Indonesian province, Aceh has announced that all Muslim female flight attendants flying into their airport must wear the hijab when flying in or face punishment by the religious police. Sounds serious!
Source: NST
The Star reported that Aceh authorities had released a letter on January 31 to all airlines flying to the region with their new regulations. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to practice the Shariah law which was granted in 2001 as part of a peace deal with the central government.
While Indonesia consists of a majority of Muslims, women are free to choose whether or not they want to cover their heads, except in Aceh, it seems. Non-Muslims women do not have to wear the hijab but must be dressed modestly.
According to CNA, the decision was made as they discovered that Muslim female flight attendants were not donning the hijab during short layovers, which forced them to issue the new regulations.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Mawardy Ali, head of Aceh Besar district said “I hope the airlines respect the uniqueness of Aceh where Sharia (Islamic law) is implemented. We are disseminating this regulation to the airlines through the end of this week. Later, we’ll talk about punishment if we find there have been violations.”
While it is unclear what punishment will be given, it would not include public flogging which is a prevalent practice in Aceh. Phew!
Indonesian carrier Garuda and Citilink is fully supportive of this move as they will add a special layer to the uniform. However, it looks like our very own AirAsia and Firefly are dealing with it differently.
AirAsia said that they would only schedule male flight attendants to service the flight to Aceh for now.
Source: Wan Hadii
“AirAsia acknowledges the regulation imposed by the authority of Aceh region. We are committed to ensure that our operations adhere to it. For the time being, all AirAsia flights from and to Aceh will be operated by male cabin crew,” they said in a statement.
Firefly is considering a similar move by rostering only males or non-Muslims on flights to Aceh. They also said that they may add another layer of clothing for their female flight attendants but are still evaluating the move.
Also read: “My Wife is Worried Whenever I Fly Alone on Malindo or AirAsia,” Says Senator
