Afghanistan’s Kam Air tells Pakistan aviation authority it wants to resume Islamabad flights

KARACHI: An Afghanistan-based private airline, which previously operated three weekly flights to Pakistan, has decided to resume its Islamabad operations, said a Pakistani aviation official on Thursday.
Kam Air’s decision comes just a few days after Afghanistan’s aviation ministry wrote a letter to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), saying that the new administration in Kabul wanted to keep a smooth flow of passengers between the two countries.
It added that the two Afghan airlines — Ariana and Kam Air — wanted to commence their scheduled flights to Pakistan under their memoranda of understanding signed with the Pakistani authorities.
“Afghanistan’s Kam Air, which flew three times a week between Kabul and Islamabad, has told us it wants to resume its flights,” a PCAA spokesperson told Arab News.
“We had also received a similar request from Afghanistan’s national flag carrier, Ariana Afghan Airlines, before the Taliban takeover and will grant permission to its management once the PCAA requirements are fulfilled,” he continued.
The Afghan aviation ministry’s letter to Pakistan also maintained the Kabul airport was “damaged” by US forces before last month’s pullout, adding the facility had been made operational with the technical support of “our Qatari brothers.”
Kam Air did not respond to an email request for a comment regarding when it planned to resume its operations.
At present, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is operating chartered flights between the capitals of the two countries and charging $1,300 per passenger.
The one-way fare, which is much higher than what the airlines previously charged, was confirmed by a PIA spokesperson.
PIA officials briefly suspended the special evacuation flights to Kabul on August 25 due to safety concerns since the airport’s technical crew had gone missing after the Taliban captured the Afghan capital on August 15.
The airport largely remained dysfunctional after the pullout of international forces. However, Qatar Airways was the first international airline to land in Kabul last week. This was followed by a PIA chartered flight carrying foreign journalists to Kabul on Monday.
Iran also resumed commercial flights to neighboring Afghanistan on Wednesday. The Iranian civil aviation agency had announced an interruption of flight operation to Afghanistan on August 16, only a day after the fall of Kabul, for security reasons.