A headline circulating since Wednesday says Pakistani pilots have been banned from Air France flights to Israel1. The measure behind it is broader and works differently. Israel's Ministry of Transport has told foreign airlines that no pilot or cabin crew member on flights entering Israeli airspace may hold the nationality, or a second nationality, of a country without formal diplomatic relations with Israel2. Air France has confirmed that it is complying3. Pakistan is one of between 27 and 31 countries on the lists reported so far452. For pilots, the key point is that the rule is about citizenship, not licences.

What Air France has told its crews

French investigative site Mediapart revealed on 10 October an internal Air France note to pilots and cabin crew6. According to Mediapart, as quoted by Air Journal, it says the Israeli state has indicated that no crew member entering Israeli airspace may hold the nationality or dual nationality of a state without formal diplomatic relations with Israel6. The route concerned is Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Tel Aviv, according to TourMaG7.

Air France gave the same statement to several outlets: "Like all airlines, Air France is required to comply with the entry regulations established by the authorities of the countries it serves, both for its customers and employees"38. It added that the staff concerned had been informed of the new rules for flights to Tel Aviv3. According to Al Jazeera, which could not verify the document itself, the memo seen by Mediapart warned that "failure to comply with this directive would expose Air France and the employee to potential sanctions"3.

How the rule is applied matters as much as the rule itself. Mediapart reported that Air France first considered asking affected crew to come forward, but Alter, the union representing flight deck crew, persuaded management to drop that idea, telling members it would amount to "discrimination based on nationality"3. French broadcaster RFI, cited by Air Journal, reports that the airline now asks the crew concerned to have themselves removed from Tel Aviv rotations without having to give a reason6. An AlphaValue analyst described the same approach to Zonebourse9. Air France has made no public statement beyond its compliance line10.

What the Israeli rule says

Israel tightened its rules after flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September, on which the Omani co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain, according to Emirati and Israeli authorities3. Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel1. Public broadcaster Kan reported that the ministry's Aviation Security Operations Center had issued new directives, which Haaretz quotes as saying that "the airline is exclusively responsible for ensuring that all flight crew members do not hold citizenship, or are not dual nationals, of countries that do not have official diplomatic relations with the State of Israel"2.

Israel has not made an official list public; the lists reported so far come from airline memos and media reports. A United Airlines scheduling memo, cited by ch-aviation, names 29 countries, among them Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Venezuela, and warns that the list may not be exhaustive5. Mediapart's list has 31, adding Nicaragua and Colombia, according to Haaretz2. Air law professor Vincent Correia of McGill University told Al Jazeera that crew from countries without relations were already barred, so in practice the new measure mainly affects dual nationals3. That point matters for crews in Europe and North America: a pilot who holds a French or US passport alongside one of the listed nationalities is covered. Live and Let's Fly concludes from the memo that a US passport does not resolve the issue if the employee keeps another listed nationality11.

Employment law against airspace sovereignty

French unions say the airline cannot sort crews by passport. The CGT points to Article L. 1132-1 of the French Labour Code, which bans discriminatory measures in assignment or career based on origin or on actual or perceived membership of a nation, and says Air France staff fall under French law7. "Our crews are not sorted by nationality," the union wrote7. Force Ouvrière said on 11 October that discrimination is a criminal offence8.

Paris anti-discrimination lawyer Clara Gandin told Al Jazeera that removing employees from flights because of a listed nationality is direct discrimination, even without loss of pay, and that a third party's wishes cannot turn a protected characteristic into an occupational requirement, citing a 2017 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union3. She also warned that a register of employees with listed nationalities could raise data protection problems3. On the other side, under Article 1 of the Chicago Convention states recognise that every state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory, and Article 13 requires that a state's laws on the admission of crew be complied with on entry into, departure from or while within its territory12. Correia said this allows a state to impose nationality-based immigration restrictions on foreign crews3. The AlphaValue analyst said the voluntary withdrawal approach removes most of the legal risk9. France's civil aviation authority DGAC and Israel's Transport Ministry did not respond to Al Jazeera3.

What this means for crews

For a pilot at an airline that serves Israel, eligibility for a Tel Aviv rotation now depends on every passport they hold, not only on their licence, type rating and recency. United has asked affected crew to contact crew scheduling and is building the requirement into its crew-planning systems511. Czech carrier Smartwings told Al Jazeera it will comply, though the directive has had no effect on its crew deployment so far3. Correia warned that "at a time of pilot shortages, this will create additional constraints for airlines", and that it could quickly become "extremely difficult to manage" if other states follow3. Crews who think they may be affected should check how their own airline handles the rule, since the approaches reported so far range from self-reporting to voluntary removal from rosters116.