Malaysia's new Islamic airline takes off, with a prayer
KUALA LUMPUR: The short domestic flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's biggest city, begins with a recital of the prayer for travel.
The passengers ─ most of them Muslims ─ cup their hands, as a crew member recites the prayer over the loudspeaker just before take off.
Malaysia's Rayani Air took to the skies over the weekend with a clear bailiwick.
It is the country's first Islamic airline, offering flights that adhere to Islamic rules, including prayers, no serving of alcohol or meals with pork, and a strict dress code for Muslim female flight attendants.
The idea for Rayani Air grew out of much-publicised complaints by conservative Muslims who believed that two major air disasters for the national Malaysia Airlines ─ Flight 370 that went missing in March 2014 and Flight 17 downed a few months later over Ukraine were divine retribution.
Their solution: Airlines must adopt strict Islamic customs.
The reaction to the disasters, and the creation of the airline that operated its inaugural flight on Sunday, is an example of rising hard-line Islamic values in Malaysia, where Muslims account for about 60 per cent of the country's 30 million people.