NO RED lipstick, no red nail polish. These are the new rules for flight attendants on Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY). The ban has provoked a furore among secular Turks, who fret that under the ruling, Islam-rooted Justice and Development (AK) party, Ataturk’s cherished Republic is hurtling towards religious rule. “This is perversion,” fumed Gursel Tekin, a member of parliament for the main opposition, pro-secular Republican People’s Party. Pouting and crimson-lipped ladies posted pictures of themselves on Twitter in protest.
In a brief statement on May 2nd, Europe’s fourth-biggest carrier said the ban was designed to keep crews "unpretentious" and "well-groomed". Pastel colours were preferred, the airline added, because they were in better keeping with the attendants’ uniforms, which were neither red nor deep pink. Turkey’s transport minister, Binali Yildirim, refused to be drawn. When asked about the ban, he declared, “red is a lovely colour. It is the colour of our flag.”
Turkish Airlines, whose service was once so shoddy and safety record so poor that its initials came to stand for “They Hate You”, has dramatically improved under AK rule. The carrier now flies to 219 destinations and was last year voted “Best Airline in Europe” by Skytrax, an airline quality-ranking programme, for a second time. The carrier carried 39m passengers last year, a figure that is expected to grow to 90m by the end of 2020. In April the company announced plans to buy 95 more planes from Boeing and 117 others from Airbus to accommodate this growth.
Source: economist
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