The spread of the coronavirus so far has caused an estimated $100 million loss to the Civil Aviation Authority and two Afghan airline companies—Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air--according to the head of the civil aviation authority.  

Multiple plans will be implemented to improve the aviation sector, including infrastructural plans at Hamid Karzai International Airport, the head of the civil aviation authority Mohammad Qasim Wafaeezada said. 

He clarified that there has been a $40 million reduction in the income of Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airlines and a $60 million reduction in the income of the civil aviation authority, compared to last year. 

“Airline companies will agree with me that this support--and the support policy of the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority-- has been successful, and despite the financial damage by the pandemic--particularly Kam Air and Ariana Airlines--none of them are on the verge of bankruptcy,” he said. 

He said they are working on four infrastructure projects, including the construction of a terminal at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that will be implemented in a partnership between the government and the private sector. 

But the head of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, Sayed Omar Saboor, stressed the need for construction of a new airport in Kabul. 

“The Hamid Karzai International Airport is among residential houses and among the city. You can see that we are not safe from land grabbers. The surroundings of the airport should not have been filled with houses,” Saboor said. 

He suggested that the new airport should be built in Logar province southwest of Kabul and that the project should be completed by 2030, if it is started.