New Shariah-Compliant Airline Takes To The Skies

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: December 10, 2021
Published: December 21, 2015

48 comments

Can being Islamic-compliant as an airline be a point of differentiation which will garner business?

That’s what Rayani Air — a new Malaysian airline — is banking on. The new airline is based in Langkawi, Malaysia, and will operate domestic flights within Malaysia using Boeing 737-400 aircraft (former Malaysia Airlines planes, actually).

Rayani-Air

They had their first flight between Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and made quite a splash as the world’s fourth Shariah-compliant airline (after Iran Air, Royal Brunei Airlines, and Saudi Arabian Airlines).

What does being a shariah-compliant airline mean in practice? Via Yahoo News:

In-flight meals are completely halal
Alcohol consumption is strictly prohibited
Muslim flight crew must don the hijab (non-Muslim crews are to be “decently dressed”)
There will be a prayer before takeoff

Rayani-Air-1

None of the above are really revolutionary concepts. Emirates doesn’t serve any pork products on their flights. Etihad even has a travel prayer before takeoff:

But ultimately Malaysia is one of the more moderate and tolerant countries when it comes to religion, and it’s especially interesting that they seem to be an airline targeted mostly at tourists, based on the fact that they’re based in Langkawi.

Will being shariah-compliant be a selling point for some “locals?” I don’t know, maybe. Will it “scare” off some people? Not for good reason, but given the percentage of Americans who think Muslims shouldn’t be allowed into the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if it does.

Bottom line

I would assume being shariah-compliant goes beyond the beliefs of the founders, but was also a business decision. Just as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, etc., have made the business decision not to be, despite being from much “stricter” countries otherwise (at least on the surface).

Ultimately the distinctions on a domestic flight are very minor — Malaysia Airlines doesn’t serve alcohol domestically, and it’s not like they’re gong to serve a bacon roll as the inflight snack. So in practice it comes down to donning the hijab and the prayer before takeoff, neither of which are a big deal one way or another, in my opinion.

Do you think being shariah-compliant was a business decision for Rayani Air, or were they just going with their beliefs? Would you be more or less likely to fly a shariah-compliant airline?

More discussion »

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Jason Guest

December 29, 2015, 3:16 am

The people who take issue with Ben saying Malaysia is one of the more tolerant (Muslim) countries have either never been there or never really spent any time with local people from whom they could learn. I have good Malaysian friends who are Catholic and have been to their home and we discussed this matter. They have never felt persecuted for their religion; they just need to respect Muslim traditions, which is only fair. They have total religious freedom. Sure, it's still Malaysia and it's still Muslim, so compared with other Asian countries, it's very conservative, but compared to the other Muslim countries (except Indonesia), it's miles ahead in terms of tolerance.

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Sue Guest

December 28, 2015, 11:23 am

Ironically Rayani Air is owned and run by a non-Muslim couple (they're Malaysian Indians) so yeah it was a business decision :) Rayani comes from a combo of their names, husband-and-wife team Ravi Alagendran and Karthiyani Govindan.

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Sam Guest

December 25, 2015, 11:28 am

@Tara aka Ken your wrong- clearly you need to turn off the TV and get out of the US for once in your life. This article is about Muslims in Malaysia- I don't know a single woman there who is "forced- yes FORCED" to wear the hijab. Rather, it's religiously intolerant countries in the West that ban the hijab that are discriminating against women. How would you feel about a law that required you to go topless while attending school? @ Joyce- do you get up and walk out of baseball games, etc when they play God Bless America?! Back to the original question, sure, is fly a Sharia compliant airlines if they had the best prices, schedule and service. Not being able to get a drink would be the main impediment, and in fact makes me choose Jetstar or Tiger over AirAsia (which is similarly dry) if the fare and timing is about the same.

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ken you're wrong Guest

December 24, 2015, 2:20 am

Ken, you are wrong. In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive, and if they want to leave their homes they need to be accompanied by a "guardian". They also need the permission of the "guardian" to travel or open a bank account. They are forced, yes FORCED, to wear some type of head covering. Fortunately not a burqa, but in some other Muslim-controlled areas, e.g., Afganistan, women are forced to wear the full burqa covering. This is just a tiny taste of what women experience under Muslim rule, UAE appears to be the lone exception. You should read more and stop making excuses for these inhumane practices. I suggest again that you replace women with blacks and see if any of the practices would be acceptable. Women get treated like crap in this world and few people seem to care, you included.

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tara Guest

December 23, 2015, 3:20 pm

DJ, Islam is not a religion. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. It controls all aspects of its adherents' lives and also controls (and in many cases punishes) non-adherents as well. You should not be tolerant of it any more than you would be tolerant of fascism.

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