Tag Archives for afghanistan.
After a harrowing 622-mile flight clinging to a jet’s landing gear, the boy was discovered alive in Delhi—only to be forced onto a return flight to Afghanistan the very same day.
Airlines are running out of viable routes between Europe and Asia. But one safehaven has emerged: Afghanistan. Their skies were once avoided during decades of war but are now relatively low risk (!) with the Taliban offering stability.
American Airlines launched service between New York JFK and Delhi in November 2021. They ran into diplomatic roadblocks getting permission to fly over Russia, leading to more circuitous routings which meant that the flight would occasionally have to divert and crew would time out.
Then, once Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. airlines weren’t permitted to overfly Russia at all. That’s made service to India tougher for United, too.
The Taliban is getting a harsh lesson in the limits to Islamic economics as it deals with international air service from Kabul, now that they’ve returned from the role of rebel force to that of managing institutions of governance. Price controls lead to scarcity.
The Taliban brought in Turkey and Qatar to run the Kabul airport.
Now they’re looking for scheduled commercial air service.
U.S. forces left Afghanistan, with their last position held at the Kabul airport. There was much reporting on the airport being effectively abandoned based on a ‘notice to airmen’ that the airport was uncontrolled. That’s not an entirely uncommon situation. And there are already plans in place for a Turkish-Qatari consortium to manage the airport. Turkish control means o good chance of a Priority Pass lounge in Kabul.
To show just how complicated things are, though, the previous government of Afghanistan had negotiated a deal with a UAE-based group to operate the airport and “[t]he Taliban will need to cut a separate deal with them.”
The deal gets Turkish President Erdogan a bargaining chip with the West, and also helps avoid Turkey being the recipient of refugees (as they are from Syria) and gives them control of the drug trade out of Afghanistan. Put another way, Turkish control over the airport probably makes continued expatriation of Afghans possible while also being a bad result in greater Turkish influence in the region as well as inside NATO.
From Kabul, refugees were sent to military bases in Qatar and Germany, and from there they’re being flown to Washington Dulles on U.S. airlines paid for charter flights under the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program. Each person is vetted prior to boarding a flight, and then goes through immigration formalities again in the U.S.
But without documents, there’s been huge bureaucratic delays at Washington Dulles with people waiting 8-12 hours to get off of planes. Flight attendants have been told to pack their own water and anticipate harrowing conditions.
An explosion at Kabul airport led to U.S. and civilian casualties. There was another explosion close to the nearby Baron Hotel which is currently advertising “safe, secure housing” for guests.
The Baron may not be as secure as advertised, but the Intercontinental Kabul is promoting in social media that they’re open to guests – not just for lodging but for all of your catering and banquet needs.
A Pakistani truck driver named Masho Shinwari reportedly went to the Kabul airport to see the unfolding drama there – and wound up in the United States.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
