Airspace revenue drops, airline industry struggling

KABUL (Tolo News): The suspension of airline flights has harmed the airline industry and the closing of Afghan airspace has caused revenue to plummet, industry analysts said. The estimated revenue loss from the closed Afghan airspace since the fall of the former government is around $7 million, said analysts.
Airlines that stopped or changed their offered flight routes have lost around $20 million, say airline officials. 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 in revenue for the use of its airspace annually. Hamayon Asghar, a university instructor, said: “The airline companies suffered around a $20 million loss and the government suffered over a $7 million dollar loss in revenue from use of airspace.”
Hakim Reshad, a business analyst, said that the problems for the airlines could also damage secondary industries. “The high income that the government previously received it does not receive now,” he said. “The businesses that depend on the airlines may collapse.” 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. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the technical problems at the Kabul airport had been solved and that the airport was ready for national and international flights. The head of the Kabul airport, Abdul Hadi Hamdan, said that previously over 400 flights were crossing Afghanistan’s airspace on a daily basis. According to him, Afghanistan received $700 per flight.