Friday, November 7, 2003
Afghan airline resumes Kabul-Kandahar flight after 24 yrs
Associated Press Kabul, November 7
After a gap of more than two decades, Afghanistan's commercial airline on Friday re-launched its service connecting capital Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.
Ariana Afghan Airlines flew a group of reporters and a handful of regular passengers on a Boeing 727 from Kabul airport. The 450-kilometer journey takes one hour.
The airline suspended flights between the two cities 24 years ago, as well as other domestic services, at the outbreak of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The route remained closed during the decade of Soviet occupation and the civil war that followed the Red Army's departure in 1989.
The US-led coalition has controlled Afghanistan's skies since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001. United Nations planes have been flying to Kandahar without incident since then.
"But everyone, all the important parties, wanted to wait until all the conditions were in place that would facilitate safe air travel for the international and Afghan public," US military spokesman Col Rodney Davis said at Kabul airport.
Ariana plans a weekly flight to Kandahar and aims to expand its network across the country, airline vice president Ehsan said.
Brig Gen Joe Prasek, who heads the US military's cooperation office in Afghanistan, said the new route would help boost Afghanistan's reconstruction.
"The reopening of this internal route between Kabul and Kandahar represents a dramatic increase for economic prosperity and an opportunity for the citizens to be able to transport themselves and their goods internally in the country in a quick manner," he said.
The US is also largely funding the rebuilding of Kabul-Kandahar highway, a high-profile project that has been plagued by delays because of attacks on construction workers.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.