Well above Kabul, the Taliban government with liquidity problems has located a potentially lucrative income flow: Afghanistan airspace.
As the Israel missile exchange and Iran threw the flight routes to disorder this year, the skies on Afghanistan offered the operators a less turbulent and faster route to apply, for a superhufe rate of $ 700, according to industry insidents.
The US Aviation Authority relieved restrictions in the country’s airspace and raided the way for high commercial steps in 2023, two years after the acquisition of the Taliban.
The airspace that had been avoided for a long time, since the country lasted four decades of war and changing PowerBrokers, suddenly became a viable option, allowing carriers to abbreviate the routes and save on fuel costs.
But it was not until the 12 -day war between Iran and Israel in June that the route really won a traction, which allowed the Taliban government to potentially raise millions.
In front of the airspace closed on Iran and Iraq, and unpredictable openings and closures throughout the Middle East, the airlines saw reasons to divert the course and found refuge on Afghanistan.
While the missiles clogged neighboring airspace, “the risk of flying over Afghanistan (ERA) practically zero,” said the aerospace and defense consultant based in France, Xavier Tytelman.
“It’s like flying over the sea.”
The average of May of 50 planes that cross Afghanistan every day shot around 280 after June 13, when the Iran-Israel War broke out, showed the data of the Fumtradar24 monitoring website24.
Since then, on a given day, more than 200 planes often cross Afghanistan, equivalent to approximately $ 4.2 million per month, although this figure is difficult to verify since the authorities do not publish budgets and have declined to make comments.
Opaque transactions
While it is not a princely sum in terms of government income, overflow rates offer a very necessary impulse to Afghanistan coffers, since it holds with a massive humanitarian crisis and an economy hit by war.
According to the UN, around 85 percent of the population of Afghanistan lives in less than one dollar per day, and almost one in four Afghan of 15 to 29 years are unemployed.
The World Bank says that overfather rates contributed to the modest growth in the economy of Afghanistan in 2024, before the route began to attract carriers who needed to overlook Iran.
International airlines returned to Afghanistan from 2023, with the Turkish airlines, Flydubai and Arabia Air that make almost daily flights from Afghan airports.
Others, such as Singapore Airlines, Air France, Aeroflot, Air Canada and Swiss Air, fly over Kabul, Mazar-Sharif or Kandahar, since practicality exceeds the risks, which remain.
The consultant Tytelman warned that Afghanistan remains a less ideal place to land in case of technical or medical emergencies, with possible complications due to the lack of spare parts and ruined medical care services.
However, he said: “Airplanes are landing in Kabul every day.”
Airlines were reluctant to discuss the mechanics of paying the Taliban government, which remains isolated by many countries in part about their restrictions on women.
Multiple companies contacted by AFP He said they do not provide information on overflow payment.
Aviation officials of Afghanistan did not respond to multiple requests for comments, and did not confirm superhufe rates or the process for which they are paid.
“Companies are not formally operated with Afghanistan, since the sanctions of the United States point only to certain Taliban officials,” said an expert at the World Bank. AFPtalking about anonymity condition.
However, “some refrain from fear of being associated with the ruling power,” he added.
The experts of the industry who speak on condition of anonymity said that the superhufe rates of $ 700 are paid to third -party intermediaries, such as the GAAC Holding, based in the United Arab Emirates, which manages airports in Afghanistan, or overcoming runners.
Some airlines can now even pay directly, as more countries develop diplomatic ties with the Taliban government.
Reinforcement authority
Only Russia has officially recognized the Taliban authorities, who are hindered by frozen assets, sanctions for people and the lack of confidence in the banking sector.
Against such winds against economic winds, the airspace’s income flow “is useful for the current administration with liquidity problems,” said Sulaiman Bin Shah, former Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce in the expelled government and founder of the Catalyst Afghanistan consultant.
But Bin Shah emphasized that overflow traffic offers more than only financial benefits, since the normalization of the Taliban authorities increases.
“It reinforces its control over state functions and supports the image of a functional government, even without formal international recognition,” he said.
“Then, while the entry itself is not transformer, it plays a significant role in the economic narrative and political positioning of the administration.”
