Business
Ariana Afghan Airlines faces financial crisis as COVID-19 looms
As per some pieces of evidence received by Ariana News, Ariana Afghan Airlines has fired 40% of its employees while decrementing the payrolls for the remaining employees up to 30%.
Some members of parliament criticize Ariana Afghan Airlines for firing its employees considering it an illegal act. They urge the government to financially support this service company and save jobs.
The COVID-19 has wilted the only governmental airline company in Afghanistan.
The CEO of Ariana Afghan Airlines said that just in the first three months of 2020, the company had suffered a loss of seven million USD due to limited flights and that now efforts were underway to make up for the loss.
Ariana News has received some shreds of evidence which show that the Ariana Afghan Airlines has decided to fire 40% of its employees as well as to decrement the salaries of the remaining employees up to 30%.
Alem Shah Ibrahimi, the CEO of Ariana Afghan Airlines, said, “We terminating our employees because we have walked into financial crisis, and we will pay others at least 30% of their salaries. We have to manage the crisis and not let the company go bankrupt.”
Some legal bodies believe that the financial crisis cannot justify firing employees, especially when COVID-19 has hit people financially.
The evidence shows that Ariana Afghan Airline suggests allocating six million dollars to establish Bakhtar Airlines, although the airline is suffering from the crisis.
Therefore, the authorities have come under criticism for not financially supporting the almost bankrupt Ariana Afghan Airlines, and instead, are trying to establish another airline company.
Although Ariana Afghan Airlines is going through its hard time, with having 40% of its workers sacked, it still conducts domestic flights transporting service workers – meaning, it could be making money.
Moreover, the airline is trying to help import important goods from other countries to Afghanistan.
The government is expected to financially support the service and private businesses to help overcome the crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, met with representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and interior of Malaysia, along with other senior officials, on Wednesday and called on Malaysians to invest in Afghanistan.
The visiting delegation is being led by senior diplomat Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin.
According to the IEA’s foreign ministry, the two sides discussed bilateral trade, holding a business communication conference to strengthen trade relations between the two countries, the trade balance between Afghanistan and Malaysia, and creating a market for Afghan products, including carpets, cotton, and minerals.
According to the ministry, at the end of the meeting, the Acting Minister emphasized the increase of investment from regional countries in Afghanistan and called on Malaysian investors to also invest in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Interior says that Afghanistan has started exporting goods to Turkey via the Herat-Khaf railway line.
In a post on X, the ministry said: “Afghanistan’s exports to Turkey started in a calm atmosphere through the Herat-Khaf railway line.”
The ministry added that one train will run daily for a month and then two trains will run daily.
According to the ministry, the security of Khaf-Herat railway line is provided by the guards of the National Public Protection Agency.
Khaf-Herat railway project not only connects Iran and Afghanistan by rail, but also completes a 2,000-kilometer route along the east-west rail corridor from China, through Uzbekistan, to Afghanistan, to Iran, and on to Turkey and Europe.
As a landlocked country, this railway network will provide a safe route to connect with Europe via Iran’s railway network and Iran’s southern ports.
This railway line is strategic for trade between Iran and Afghanistan and will allow six million tons of goods to be sent between the two countries.
A joint expo between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan will be held in Kabul in the next four days, officials said on Sunday.
Officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said that the two-day expo will be held for the purpose of expanding and strengthening trade relations between the two countries.
“This expo will be held as a follow-up of the Kazakh-Afghan international expo, which was held in the city of Astana, Kazakhstan, with the participation of a large delegation of the government and the private sector of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Abdulsalam Javad Akhundzadeh, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said.
“At this expo, domestic products from different sectors of Afghanistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan will be put on display for two days.”
According to officials, 40 large Kazakh companies, and 40 large Afghan companies will exhibit their products.
Mohammad Saber Latifi, head of the Afghanistan International Expo Center, said that fruits, minerals and commercial services will be displayed at the expo.
During the expo, various memorandums of understanding for the trade of goods are also expected to be signed by companies.
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