The United Arab Emirates firm signed an agreement in partnership with Afghanistan on Thursday, to oversee flights across the country in the context of Taliban authorities look to expand international flights.
While some flights operate from Kabul airport, substantial additional assistance is required for major international airlines to resume service.
The complete operation of the airport in the capital — which was destroyed in August of last year, during massive evacuations of civilians following the Taliban returned to power is believed to be essential to revive Afghanistan’s devastated economy.
On Thursday on Thursday, Abu Emirates-based GAAC has signed an arrangement is expected to help in bringing back the major international airlines.
It is part the more than $300 million in funds that GAAC intends to put into Afghanistan over a 10-year time frame to help develop Afghanistan’s aviation industry.
The agreement permits GAAC for GAAC to “operationalise airspace in order to permit the movement of international airlines” the regional director Ibrahim Moarafi told reporters at an event for press.
The official also said that it allows GAAC “to restore navigation services that are required to bring large international carriers to the airports of Afghanistan”.
This covers controls for air traffic, communications and surveillance systems as well as meteorological services.
This is the third agreement to be signed by GAAC in partnership with Afghanistan’s ministry of Civil Aviation and Transport earlier this year.
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GAAC operating in Afghanistan prior to the time that the Taliban came back to power was granted distinct contracts to handle ground and screening passengers at Kabul and other airports.
“Despite our previous agreements, we had some gaps in our work regarding the direction of flights through Afghanistan’s airspace” said the deputy minister of transport and aviation Ghulam Jelani Waffa.
“We were in need of equipment, and some equipment was malfunctioning and was could have a negative impact on our work,” he added.
A country has not yet officially recognized the Taliban government that has been progressively stripping away the rights of Afghans especially women.
Controlling air traffic in Kabul airport is being controlled by a group comprised of Afghans who are trained through experts in Uzbekistan as well as Qatar.The contract will run over 10 years Ghulam Jelani Popal the deputy director of Afghanistan’s ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, said to reporters during the press conference in Kabul.
The group already had signed contracts in the past with UAE state-linked GAAC for ground services as well as security.Ibrahim Moarafi, GAAC’s Regional Director and General Manager of GAAC said to journalists in Kabul that the group would be encouraging major international airlines to come back to Afghanistan.
“We think this is a important development,” he said. “We also believe that this is an important development because it will result in economic benefits, in terms of employment and job creation.” It is believed that the Taliban which is an international scourge without official recognition, have sought out regional powers, such as Qatar and Turkey in order to run Kabul airport, Afghanistan’s landlocked primary airlink to the rest of the world.
However, after months of back-andforth discussions, and at some point, bringing up an idea of deal between the UAE, Turkey and Qatar the Taliban in recent months made the decision to surrender their operations in entire sphere to the UAE According to reports, the UAE had agreed to take over all operations in July.
