AIRLINE INDUSTRY STRUGGLING AFTER TALIBAN’S TAKEOVER OF AFGHANISTAN

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.

Meanwhile, Turkish ambassador to Afghanistan met the Taliban’s second acting deputy prime minister and assured of strengthening bilateral ties between Kabul and Ankara, according to an official statement.

Ambassador Cihad Erginay and the Taliban’s Abdul Salam Hanafi “emphasised the strong bonds between Turkish and Afghan people and reaffirmed their commitments to further bolster the relations between our brotherly nations,” during the meeting, the Turkish Embassy said in a tweet on Wednesday. Erginay has also met with the Taliban’s acting commerce minister Nooruddin Azizi in a bid to boost bilateral trade.

“They (Erginary and Azizi) expressed their joint commitment to boosting bilateral trade volume as well as increasing industrial output and discussed ways to achieve these goals,” the embassy tweeted.

Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip said Ankara was ready to help Afghanistan recover from years of conflict and strife if the nation also looks out for its own unity and solidarity.

“What concerns us as Turkey is that Afghanistan should recover swiftly … We are ready to provide all kinds of support for the unity and solidarity of Afghanistan as long as we get the same approach from it,” Erdogan had said, The Express Tribune reported.

On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul, which led to the collapse of the US-supported Afghanistan government and the movement gaining control over almost all of the country.