French flagship carrier Air France will comply with new Israeli restrictions that bars pilots and cabin crew who hold primary or dual citizenship of mostly 31 Muslim-majority countries that do not have formal diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, Al Jazeera quoted the airline as saying in a statement.
This came after the co-pilot of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30 made an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft and kill its passengers. Out of the 174 passengers onboard, 150 were Israeli. There were no fatalities in the incident.
During an altercation in the cockpit, the Omani co-pilot had stabbed Indian pilot Smit Machchhar.
The plane had plummeted about 17,000 feet in altitude in a minute. It landed safely at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The airline was quoted as saying that like all airlines, it is “required to comply with the entry regulations established by the authorities of the countries it serves, both for its customers and employees”.
The new Israeli restrictions are mostly for Muslim-majority countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Sudan, Israeli media and French investigative publication Mediapart reported.
The list also includes North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Belize and Venezuela, which are not Muslim-majority countries.
Colombia was also reported to have been on...