'Koorestan', the fictitious country that Fran visits, is a parody on Kurdistan, a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population.
The closing credits shows stock footage from 'Airport 1975 (1974)', a flying Boeing 747-123 with the fictional 'Columbia' airlines markings (rented from American Airlines), passing for a 'Koorestan Air' flight. Both Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Erik Estrada starred in that film and made guest appearances in this series as well.