Over 25,000 flights recorded across Afghanistan in past year

The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) says all the country’s airfields are operational and over the past year, more than 25,000 flights have taken place across Afghanistan.

“About 25,540 transit flights were registered in the current year, and of course, we must remember that this was done in cooperation with neighboring countries,” said Hasibullah Soroush, Deputy Minister for Aviation Policy and Safety Oversight.

The ministry officials also said during their accountability program on Thursday that it has collected over 8.9 billion AFN revenue from flights over the past year.

“In the past year, the Ministry of Transportation and Aviation has managed to collect 8.927 billion afghanis for the coffers of the Islamic Emirate with full transparency,” said Hafiz Sediqullah Abid, Deputy Minister of Transportation for Financial and Administrative affairs.

In this time, more than 560,000 passengers have been recorded on domestic and foreign flights from Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif airports, and more than 2,600 tons of goods were transported through air corridors during this period, officials said.

In addition, the ministry has purchased new equipment including radars to better control the country’s airspace.

“We are taking steps to purchase radars, and we have signed a contract with the United Arab Emirates with the GAC [aviation] company, so that we can provide all the telecommunications and radar equipment needed by Afghanistan’s civil aviation [authority],” said Ghulam Jilani Wafa, deputy minister for MoTCA.

Officials also said they have taken steps in the land transport sector, including the establishment of provincial stations in seven zones of the country and have evaluated dozens of transportation companies.

Currently, four international airports and 24 domestic airports are active throughout the country. In addition, commercial goods have been transported overland to Turkey for the first time.