AI unable to fly into Kabul, IAF steps in
Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The sudden closure of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport threw schedules for the few remaining airlines operating flights to Afghanistan into disarray, including Air India’s which had a flight scheduled for 12.30pm.
Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people running across the tarmac as US. troops fired warning shots in the air. One showed a crowd pushing and shoving its way up a staircase, trying to board a plane, with some people hanging off the railings.
In another video, hundreds of people could be seen running alongside a US Air Force transport plane as it moved down a runway. Some clung to the side of the jet just before takeoff. That raised questions about how much longer aircraft would be able to safely take off and land.
Shafi Arifi, who had a ticket to travel to Uzbekistan on Sunday, was unable to board her plane because it was packed with people who had raced across the tarmac and climbed aboard, with no police or airport staff in sight.
“There was no room for us to stand,” said the 24-year-old. “Children were crying, women were shouting, young and old men were so angry and upset, no one could hear each other. There was no oxygen to breathe.”
Afghans are also trying to leave through land border crossings, all of which are now controlled by the Taliban. Rakhmatula Kuyash, 30, was one of the few people with a visa allowing him to cross into Uzbekistan on Sunday. He said his children and relatives had to stay behind.
“I’m lost and I don’t know what to do. I left everything behind,” he said.
A senior US official said “it’s
The sudden closure of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday threw schedules for the few remaining airlines operating flights to Afghanistan into disarray, including Air India’s which had a flight scheduled for 12.30pm.
Two NOTAMS or notices to airmen – official notices containing essential information on flight operations – issued on Monday morning by the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority said the civilian side of Hamid Karzai International Airport or Kabul airport was “closed until further notice” and that Kabul’s airspace “has been released to the military”.
AThe second NOTAM advised all “transit aircraft to reroute” and cautioned that “any transit through Kabul airspace will be uncontrolled”.
An Air India spokesperson said the airspace over Afghanistan had been declared closed and no commercial aircraft could operate there. “Our scheduled flight to Kabul also cannot go,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, a special flight operated by the Indian Air Force landed in Kabul on Monday
afternoon to bring back stranded Indians, including embassy staff, according to people familiar with the developments.
Since Afghanistan has closed its airspace, the special flight circumvented Pakistani airspace and flew over Iran.
India had kept C 17 Globemasters on standby for evacuation missions. One of them was sent to Afghanistan on Sunday and a second one took off from the Hindon air force station on the outskirts of Delhi on Monday.
Air India operated its last flight to Afghanistan on Sunday.
AI 243 had to hold in the air for over an hour as gun-toting Talibs entered the capital city of Kabul and security forces started surrendering.