Afghanistan writes to India's DGCA seeking resumption of flights
The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority under the new Taliban regime has written to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeking the resumption of flights operated by its airlines Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airline to and from Delhi.
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DGCA chief Arun Kumar said a decision in this regard would be taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation as this was a policy issue.
The Afghanistan airspace was declared ‘uncontrolled’ and was closed for civilian flights on August 16 following the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Since then, the Taliban government, with the help of Qatar, has managed to resume several airports in the country, including at Kabul.
Ariana Afghan Airline has already been operating domestic flights, and the first international commercial flight post the takeover was operated between Islamabad and Kabul on September 13 by Pakistan International Airlines. Currently, regular international flights out of Kabul are being operated to Pakistan and Iran.
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The letter to the DGCA was sent on September 7, Afghanistan’s acting Minister for Civil Aviation and Transport Alhaj Hamidullah Akhundzada wrote: “The intention of this letter is to keep the smooth passenger movement between two countries based on the signed MoU and our national carriers (Ariana Afghan Airline and Kam Air) aimed to commence their scheduled flights. Therefore, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority requests you to facilitate their commercial flights.”
Prior to the Taliban takeover, India’s national carrier Air India and low-cost airline SpiceJet operated flights between Delhi and Kabul.
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