Airlines to be fined over delayed flights

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) on Saturday said airlines would be fined over delayed domestic flights in future under a new policy. The ACAA decision comes after many people complained about delayed flights between provinces.

Deputy operational chief at ACAA, Amanzib Ansari, told Pajhwok Afghan News that after several complaints, the authority created a new procedure based on which airlines would be punished over delayed flights. “If a flight is delayed for an hour, the airline concerned will be fined 100,000 afghanis and later the fine for each hour delay will be increased to 25,000 afghanis”, he said.

Ansari said if a flight was delayed for more than four hours, the airline should pay passengers hotel stay charges. “If a passenger missed a second flight in another province due to the first delay, the airline is responsible to pay for that too, he said. He said if a flight was cancelled, the airline would be responsible to return the ticket cost.

Ansari said flight rates automatically decrease when competition between airlines gets speed. He said the rates would be declined if the newly launched Bakhtar Airline increased its passenger planes. He said ACAA was also working on a procedure to determine flight rates and define separate rates for each province after an evaluation. Bakhtar and Ariana airlines, both state-run and Kam Air, a private airline, are currently operating in the country’s civil aviation.