Kabul: Post-Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, its airspace revenue has dropped and the airline industry is struggling. As per industry analysts, the suspension of airline flights has harmed the airline industry and the closing of Afghan airspace has caused revenue to plummet, reported Tolo News.
The estimated revenue loss from the closed Afghan airspace since the fall of the former government is around USD 7 million, said analysts. Airlines that stopped or changed their offered flight routes have lost around USD 20 million, say airline officials, reported Tolo News.
Airline companies expressed concern over the closed airspace and the reduction of flights, saying that the airlines should immediately resume operations. Officials at Kabul Airport said all types of flights will resume in the future.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan, the country was receiving over five billion Afs (Afghani currency) in revenue for the use of its airspace annually, reported Tolo News. Hakim Reshad, a business analyst, said that the problems for the airlines could also damage secondary industries.
Sources within Afghan airlines said that prior to the collapse of the former government at least 11 national and international airlines were active. The international airlines suspended their flights and national airlines have also reduced their activity.
"The lack of national, regional and international flights reflects a collapse of companies and Afghanistan's airspace economy and in fact inflicts great harm on the trade," said economical analyst Sayed Massoud.Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the technical problems at the Kabul airport had been solved and that the airport was ready for national and international flights.
The head of the Kabul airport, Abdul Hadi Hamdan, said that previously over 400 flights were crossing Afghanistan’s airspace on a daily basis. According to him, Afghanistan received $700 per flight.
In a first official outreach, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has written to the government of India for resumption of commercial flights between the two countries.
Indian flight operations to Kabul had ceased after August 15, when the Taliban overran the Afghan capital and took effective control of the strife-hit country.
India does not officially recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan even though a meeting did take place in Doha on August 31. The Indian Ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, upon the latter's request.
