Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) told airlines to avoid its airspace as it relinquished control to military use.
An advisory notice from the ACAA issued on Monday 16 August warned airlines to avoid Kabul airspace – which covers all of Afghanistan.
According to a report by Reuters, the notice said that “Kabul airspace has been released to the military. Advise transit aircraft to reroute.”
The advisory highlighted that any transit through Kabul airspace would be uncontrolled with surrounding FIRs (air traffic control regions) already advised.
The US military is currently in charge of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, which it says is open to military aircraft and limited commercial flights.
On 18 August, the US Department of Defence (DOD) issued a statement saying: “The US military footprint at Afghanistan is at about 4,500 troops on the ground in Kabul at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which they secured days ago. The operation to hold down the airport and evacuate civilians from Afghanistan is ongoing and a few hundred more troops might arrive today.”
The statement also said that “Kabul Airport remains secure and open for flight operations; military flights are arriving and departing consistently, and there are limited commercial flight operations, in addition to some foreign contracted flights that are coming and going.”
Although Pentagon Spokesperson John F. Kirby described the crisis in Afghanistan as “fluid and dynamic”, news reports this week have shown scenes of chaos at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport as scores of civilians try to flee the country.
