Commercial airlines can fly to Kabul International Airport again but must first obtain the US Department of Defense approval.
The airspace has only been accessible to military aircraft in recent days, but the American aviation authority FAA is giving scheduled flights another chance to land in Afghanistan.
However, the FAA calls on US airlines not authorized by the Department of Defense to avoid airspace over Afghanistan altogether. There is hardly any air traffic controllers active, and Afghan airspace is therefore no longer controlled. In addition, “the activities of militants and extremists” lead to dangerous situations.
United Airlines, one of the few American carriers that normally fly over the area, had already announced on Monday that it would no longer fly over Afghanistan. KLM is also avoiding the airspace above Afghanistan for the time being because it is too dangerous.
A White House spokesman said about 1,800 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by US military personnel on Wednesday. In total, the United States has picked up nearly 6,000 people in Kabul. However, it is not clear whether the US military will actually deploy commercial airlines in the evacuations.
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