Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) says the country’s all airports are operating and open for national and international flights. According to the ministry, currently, flights are available from the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey and Russia to Afghanistan and vice versa.
“A number of airline companies as Mahan from Iran, Qatar Airways, Pakistan PIA and chartered airplanes from some countries use Afghanistan airports,” said Imamuddin Ahmadi, a spokesperson to the ministry of transport and civil aviation.
This comes after Afghanistan handed over the operation and security responsibilities of Kabul International Airport, (KIA) Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif airports to a United Arab Emirate (UEA)’s company. He said Afghan citizens and foreigners can smoothly travel to other countries and to Afghanistan via the country’s international airports.
GAAC Solutions, a state-run firm based in Abu Dhabi, has taken charge of the international airports in the capital Kabul and three other major cities – Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif.
This agreement also includes security operations at all four airports. The handover was made under a deal signed on May 24, but the initial pact did not include security responsibilities.
He further said that all airports were open and operating, adding that all services were delivering normally.
“All flights are conducted normally in accordance to timetable. Both Afghan citizens and foreigners can commute and should observe international standards. For example, they should be hold a passport with visa,” Ahmadi said.
According to Ahmadi, some domestic airlines as Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air are now filling some gaps of flights conducted previously by Emirate and Turkish airlines.
Following the IEA takeover in mid-August last year, operation of all airports of the country including the Kabul International Airport was suspended, but now after 10 months, all national and international flights are scheduled and conducted normally on daily basis.
It is hoped that all national and international flights get full normal as big airline companies have shown tendency to resume their flights to Afghanistan.
Previously, air corridors have been created for exporting Afghanistan domestic products to the world and regional countries as hundreds of tons of Afghanistan fresh fruits and pine nuts were packed and exported via air corridor to China, UEA, India and Turkey and even EU member countries on daily basis. It is hoped Afghan fresh fruits exports process via air corridor to the world and regional countries resumes.
Amiri