Afghanistan and Qatar signed an air services Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday.
The Ministry of Transport of Qatar said in a statement that the MoU will increase air traffic rights between the two countries.
The MoU aims to connect the State of Qatar with more air services agreements. This will allow Qatar’s national carrier to expand its network of destinations around the world.
Abdul Salam Haidari, Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation of Afghanistan, and Mohammed Faleh Al-Hajri, who manages the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, signed the MoU.
In a post on X, Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that the civil aviation authorities of both Qatar and Afghanistan held a bilateral meeting this morning (Monday).
The talks focused on ways to enhance cooperation in air transport between the two countries. They also addressed various topics of mutual interest in civil aviation.
Also See: Airlines increase flights over Afghanistan for first time in 3 years
Surge in Overflights Over Afghanistan
This development comes amid an increase in overflights over Afghanistan in the past two months.
Data shows that airlines have been diverting flights over Afghanistan in order to avoid Iranian airspace and the growing conflict in the Middle East.
FlightRadar24 showed 132 over-flights of Afghanistan on 29 September. On 2 October, the day after Iran attacked Israel, the number of Afghan over-flights rose to 176.
On 6 October, the daily number had steadily risen to 222.
FlightRadar24, on Monday evening, at 7.40pm Kabul time, showed a Lufthansa flight and two Singapore Airlines flights using Afghanistan’s airspace.
The data did not provide a breakdown of which airlines used Afghan airspace. However, FlightRadar24 recorded British Airways flights flying over Afghanistan in recent days.
Many airlines started routing through Iran and the Middle East after Russian and Ukrainian skies closed to most Western carriers when the Ukraine war began in 2022.
However, air traffic control for carriers flying over Afghanistan has not been available since the US forces withdrew from the country in 2021. Instead, airlines have to rely on guidelines from regulators.
This news is sourced from [Ariana News] and is for informational purposes only.
