Afghanistan starts regular flights after 23 years
Afghanistan took another step into the modern world on Wednesday with the start of the first regular, scheduled flights to and from the country since it descended into civil war 23 years ago.
Wednesday's flight was just a trial run. But from Friday onwards a Boeing 727 belonging to Azerbaijan's state carrier, Azal, will fly three times a week between Kabul and the Azeri capital Baku, from where passengers can connect to European cities.
The airline behind the new service is hoping to cash in on demand from Kabul-based aid workers and diplomats wanting to escape a country where human comforts are still thin on the ground for some rest and relaxation.
"For us this flight means freedom," said Jean-Pierre Guinhut, France's ambassador to Afghanistan, who was at Kabul airport on Wednesday to meet the inaugural flight. "Before we had to sit around waiting for days to find out if we could get on a flight."
Afghanistan's own fledgling carrier, Ariana, flies to and from Kabul, as do Iranian and Pakistani airlines. But there is no regular service and seats cannot be reserved, creating an unseemly scramble to get on a flight.
Officials at Azal said they were not concerned about flying into a country which just a few months ago was a war zone.
"Our service is different from anything that currently exists... We have no worries about filling the seats," said Azal executive Murad Rasizade, adding that the new flight would be the only one to offer a business class service.
Bringing Afghanistan's aviation industry into the 21st century has not been easy. Azal wanted to offer on-line booking but dropped the plan when it found that hardly anyone in Afghanistan had access to the Internet.
Wednesday's inaugural flight was greeted by delighted Afghan officials when it touched down in Kabul but some of them may be expecting a little too much from the new service.
"Our government will welcome groups of tourists from all over the world to visit Afghanistan and we hope the new flight will help this," said Al-Haj Ghulam Ali Timar, general manager of Kabul international airport.
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