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Air France said it would allow female cabin crew and pilots to opt out of flying routes to Tehran after some staff said they did not want to be forced to cover their hair when in Iran. Air France is preparing to restart flights to Tehran from April 17 after an eight-year pause due to sanctions. After a meeting between Air France management and unions, the French carrier said it would offer female staff the choice of opting out of the flights. Under Iranian law, women must cover their hair in public places. Unions had raised concerns over an Air France ruling obliging female crew to wear a headscarf on leaving a plane. The debate on the wearing of headscarves and other religious symbols in public is particularly heated in France, which attaches importance to the separation of state and religious institutions. "This obligation does not apply during the flight and is respected by all international airlines serving the Republic of Iran," Air France said Monday. A spokeswoman for British Airways, which is planning to restart flights to Iran on July 14, said it would make recommendations to its crew nearer the time. Lufthansa, which continued to fly to Tehran throughout the sanctions, said it had not experienced any problems and that crew followed the rules to cover up when in public spaces.<br/>

Delta on Monday said the deadly terrorist attack in Brussels had a $5m negative impact on its March results, leading to a decline in a closely followed revenue metric. Brussels’ main airport reopened on Sunday to a small number of passenger flights after being closed since twin suicide bombings devastated its departure hall on March 22, killing at least 16 people and injuring scores more. An equal number died in the center of the Belgian capital in a bombing attack on a subway station. Delta said its consolidated passenger unit revenue—a key measure of performance for the airline sector—fell 5% in March from a year earlier. For Q1, unit revenue is projected to have declined by about 4.5%. Delta said its overall traffic rose 1.2% in March. Capacity increased 1.5% for the month, while load factor, or the percentage of seats, slipped to 84.8% from 85% a year earlier. <br/>