Afghan Airlines to Serve Bahrain

Officials in the Afghanistan Ministry of Transport and Aviation have confirmed that Afghan carriers will soon begin flights to Bahrain. The arrangement is part of the bilateral agreement reached with the Kingdom of Bahrain earlier this year when it was confirmed that state-owned national carrier Gulf Air will inaugurate flights to Kabul. The airline will launch a four times weekly service from June 15, and it is expected that Afghan registered carriers will offer a similar number of frequencies.

No public announcement has yet been made on which local airline or airlines will serve the route. Safi Airways is currently the largest airline in the country based on O&D traffic in the past year with an estimated 23.8 per cent share, followed closely behind by Ariana Afghan Airlines (23.6 per cent). Kam Air has a 21.1 per cent share, while Pamir Airways accounted for 11.4 per cent of the traffic in, out and within the country.

The new flights will make travel between the two countries much easier, opening a huge commercial opportunity for Afghanistan’s well known traditional industries such as carpets and gems, and the industrial sectors namely construction and engineering, IT/telecommunications, transportation, and of course mining, which are poised for take-off. There is also a huge opportunity for Bahrain’s private sector businesses in Afghanistan, traffic from many of the international corporations and organisations working on multi-million development projects in Afghanistan and the vast Afghan community living and working in the Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia.