Summary
- Air Arabia and Jazeera Airways are set to resume flights to Kabul, increasing the full variety of international carriers operating on the airport to a few.
- The Afghan Ministry of Transport is optimistic that more carriers will resume operations at airports across Afghanistan.
- The re-establishment of international service in Afghanistan is driven by leisure travel, not business travel. International legacy carriers have yet to plan service resumptions.
Air Arabia, a low-cost carrier based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, will resume flights to Kabul International Airport (KBL) from its hub at Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) on 10 January. Services from non-Afghan airlines have been suspended for 2 years, following a regime change within the Central Asian nation.
In accordance with the Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Emirati low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways is about to start international service to Kabul shortly after Air Arabia touches down within the nation. Recently, Dubai-based low-cost carrier FlyDubai became the primary international carrier to start flying to Afghanistan after flights from international airlines had been suspended back in 2021.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Ariana Afghan Airlines, the nation’s flag carrier, and Kam Air, the country’s largest privately owned airline, each provide service to several international destinations from KBL. Once Jazeera Airways and Air Arabia start operations, the full variety of international carriers operating at Kabul’s airport will likely be three, a far cry from the six that previously flew to the capital city.
An interesting resumption
The Ministry of Transport is actually excited concerning the service resumption, as its rhetoric demonstrates. In an announcement reported by , ministry spokesman Imamuddin Ahmadi had the next words to share regarding the announcement:
“Air Arabia has also asked to begin flights with Afghanistan from Kabul, their demand has also been accepted, and within the near future their flights will start. Within the meantime, Jazeera Airways has also demanded to begin direct flights from Afghanistan.”
The minister then went on so as to add additional comments concerning the resumed routes, indicating that these flights would offer additional transportation options for the general public. Moreover, Ahmadi went on so as to add that healthy competition amongst carriers would ultimately lower prices and profit the Afghan people.
Photo: Air Arabia
The Ministry of Transport is optimistic that these flights may very well be a signal for more carriers to resume operations at airports across Afghanistan. The nation has multiple other airports that meet all of the standards for international flight operations, reminiscent of Kandahar International Airport (KDH) and Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport (MZR), the latter of which already sees international service from Iranian carrier Mahan Air.
The larger economic picture
The re-establishment of consistent international service demonstrates that the young Taliban regime has cleared a key economic hurdle within the Middle East. Nevertheless, the particular carriers which have chosen to resume flight show that it’s leisure travel, not business travel, that’s driving interest in serving Afghanistan.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
Notably, legacy carriers reminiscent of Turkish Airlines, Emirates, and Air India, which all flew to Kabul before the Taliban takeover in keeping with , have yet to plan service resumptions. This demonstrates that, despite easing political relations between other Middle Eastern nations and the brand new Afghan regime, economic relationships have yet to completely return.
Afghanistan’s Ariana Airlines Resumes Regular Flights From Kabul
Businesses even within the Arab world are hesitant to re-engage with Afghan firms, likely consequently of US and European-driven sanctions. Business travel, which legacy airlines depend on, is yet to make its way back to Afghanistan, and the one international legacy carrier operating flights to Kabul continues to be flag carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines.