The Hindu Business Line : Afghan pilot helps Ariana spread wings

LOVE for rebuilding a war-ravaged Afghanistan is making common people give up material benefits and consider giving back something to the nation that made them what they are today.

Take the case of Capt Ahmed K. Kakar, a command pilot on Boeing 767 and Boeing 757 aircraft with one of the largest US airlines, Continental. An Afghan national, who earned his wings with Ariana Afghan Airlines way back in 1972, Captain Kakar jumped on the recent offer made by the President of the Afghan Airlines calling pilots back to refurbish it.

"I want to do something for Ariana. It made me what I am today. I want to try and do something to rebuild the entire civil aviation sector in my country. I want to do my bit to help revive Ariana to the glory that it once was," Captain Kakar told Business Line.

To achieve this, Capt Kakar has been on leave without pay from Continental for the past one-and-half months doing mostly Haj flights and also operating to some European destinations like Istanbul and Frankfurt.

In town as part of a team to carry out tests on the third Airbus A-300-B-4 aircraft which India gifted Afghanistan today, Capt Kakar said that the number of people flying the airlines was on the upswing.

"I just returned from an Istanbul flight and we had about 255 people on board. And though four international airlines has started operating regular flights to Afghanistan, a lot still needs to be done to completely revive the sector," he said.

Apart from requiring skilled manpower, there is also a shortage of aviation fuel, which forces Ariana to fly to Dubai and other places in West Asia to meet its operational requirements.

However, Capt Kakar is not alone in his dreams to rebuild the aviation industry in Afghanistan. Already, an Ariana Airlines Pilot Association has been formed in the US, which has about 150-200 members, including people who are experts in commercial and traffic aspects of the industry apart from pilots. The Association is now in the process of creating a corpus of funds to meet the requirement of the families of civil aviation experts who would travel to Afghanistan to rebuild the sector.

So with a little help from friends like the Indian Government, which has gifted three Airbus aircraft to double the fleet strength of Ariana, and Capt Kakar, the national airlines of Afghanistan could soon spread its wings far and near.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Airlines charge `express' cargo rates to US

Afghan pilot helps Ariana spread wings

No fuel, no bother... BPCL is on the way