Historic all‑women flight lands in Mashhad, breaking barriers
On Sunday, a plane landed in Mashhad with only women on board. It's the first such flight in the city's history.
On Sunday, at the airport in the holy city of Mashhad, Iran, a plane landed with only women on board. The pilot was Shahrzad Shams, one of the few women in Iran licensed to pilot planes.
The flight to Mashhad, a significant site for Shia Islam, took place without disclosing the departure location. There were 110 female passengers on board.
According to the Polish Press Agency, this is the first such exceptional flight to land in this city. Such an event has never occurred before, featuring only women both in the cockpit and in the passenger seats.
Mashhad houses the Imam Reza shrine. It is one of the holiest places in Shia Islam and is Iran's second-largest city.
Notably, in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, women have trained as commercial airplane pilots. Neshat Jahandari and Forouz Firouzi were the first women to pilot a commercial aircraft in the country. As highlighted by news agencies, this recent flight is another step towards increasing the presence of women in aviation in Iran.