Saudi Arabia Airline To Segregate Men and Women

An airline in Saudi Arabia has announced its decision to segregate passengers based on gender after male customers reportedly complained.

The country's national airline, Saudia, announced this week that it will separate passengers based on gender, unless the passengers are close relatives. The decision reportedly comes after male passengers complained about their wives and daughters having to sit next to strangers, while other male passengers complained that female flight attendants were becoming too "flirty."

"There are solutions to this problem […] we will soon enforce rules that will satisfy all passengers," Abdul Rahman Al Fahd, the assistant manager for marketing at Saudia, told the local media outlet Ajel.

The national airline has been known for abiding by strict Islamic law, including not serving alcohol or pork products on board, and reciting a verse from the Quran before takeoff. The airline also has a dedicated prayer area on board the aircraft.

According to RT.com, transportation services in Israel have recently been dealing with similar problems, in which ultra-orthodox Jews refuse to share space with female strangers.

It wasn't until 2010 that the Saudia airline announced it would be deploying women to work as flight attendants.

"We will employ women as ticket sales ladies in all parts of the Kingdom from next year," Saad Al Seuleiman, passenger services director for the airlines, said in a statement in 2010.

"They will be deployed in places assigned specially for them away from the main terminals [...] they will work in places confined only to women [...] the policy of Saudi Airlines is clear in not allowing women to mix with men."