Bakhtar Afghan Airlines back in business

KABUL (Pajhwok): As the Bakhtar Afghan Airlines resumed operations, President Ashraf Ghani said an agreement on purchasing two more planes for the company would be inked soon.

Bakhtar Airlines, which was founded in 1966, initially operated alongside Ariana Afghan Airline. The state-owned company, operating domestic flights, stopped operations during the civil war.

The airline was back in business, said Ahmad Muslim Khurram, director of the firm, at the inauguration ceremony. “We were able to revive the company in seven months, and complete the process in five phases,” he said in a statement from the Presidential Palace.

Khurram claimed the airline’s tentative flights had been successful for eight hours and the firm had only one plane. Two more planes would be delivered to it within a month.

On the occasion, Ghani granted a licence to Khurram and the first “Boarding Pass” was awarded to the president by company officials.

Ghani said: “Bakhtar has been revived to meet the needs of our security and defence forces to perform their duties on a rotating basis. A long-term contract between the security sector and Bakhtar should be signed to meet the demands of the honest sons of the soil.”

Ghani assured Bakhtar officials: “You have the government’s support against corruption, smuggling and other irregularities.”

sa/mud