After Flydubai, Air Arabia and Jazeera Airways now also want to resume their non-stop flights to Kabul. Until the comeback of the first mentioned carrier, the connections of foreign airlines were suspended. Now the Taliban government is also hoping for tourist interest.

According to the announcement, Air Arabia will head to Kabul several times a week from Sharjah from January 10, 2024. This route had already been in the portfolio in the past, but the offer was suspended about two years ago. According to the Afghan Ministry of Transport, Air Arabia will not remain the only airline; Air Jazeera has also successfully applied for route rights.

Ideally, there would then be three international carriers that would have reactivated their connections to/from Kabul. The government of Afghanistan also sees the fact that there are three low-cost airlines as a great opportunity, as we hope that leisure traffic can be boosted. Even before the Taliban came to power again, Afghanistan played a relatively insignificant role in terms of tourism.

Two domestic carriers, Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airlines, have now at least partially reactivated their route networks. Before the regime change, a total of six foreign carriers operated at the capital's airport. Currently there is one and it is Flydubai. With the upcoming comebacks of Air Arabia and Air Jazeera, there would be three.

Air India, Emirates and Turkish Airlines have also had Kabul on their route networks in the past. The three network airlines mentioned have no plans to return yet. There are currently signs that Taliban-Afghanistan's relations with other states in this region are stabilizing, so it can be expected that economic business activities could gradually be rebuilt. This could – at least in theory – be followed by further flight connections.