PESHAWAR: The PIA’s [Pakistan International Airline] first commercial flight has arrived in Kabul since the Taliban have captured Kabul on 15 August.
The PIA flight PK-6249 left Islamabad for Kabul on 13 September morning and arrived at 9:45 local time at Kabul airport. On the first flight, the PIA took international journalists to Kabul and brought back a team of the World Bank and members of international news agencies.
Read more:
UN seeks $600mn to avoid humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan
Taliban renamed Hamid Karzai Int’l airport
Taliban demands US to remove Haqqanis from blacklist
According to PIA CEO Marshal Arshad Malik, this was the first international passenger flight since the new government was formed in Kabul. He said the purpose of the flight was to promote good ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan and to strengthen humanitarian operations. Malik said that this operation is not only important for the national flag carrier but also for the whole world. “Everyone is looking to us to restore contacts and hopefully soon we will be able to fully restore the operation,” Malik said.
According to the PIA, Afghan Civil Aviation and local PIA personnel had made special arrangements for the service at Kabul Airport with the assistance of Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan and other diplomatic staff. A reporter for an international news agency on a flight from Islamabad said that only 10 people were on board and there was more staff than passengers on the first flight to Kabul.
A PIA spokesperson has that the PIA wanted to start normal flights to Kabul, but there are some issues to be resolved. He said that some agencies have also approached PIA to operate charter flights to Kabul. He informed that the PIA has also sought permits to operate charter flights but but there is a need for proper arrangements.
Kabul Airport was severely damaged during the evacuation of thousand of people in chaos after the Taliban took control of Kabul on 15 August 2021. The Taliban has made the airport operational with technical assistance from Qatar, Turkey and other countries. Qatar Airways operated several charter flights from Kabul last week for foreign and Afghan officials.