Afghanistan Ariana Airlines eyes international links, female staff remain grounded

Female Flight crew Fear that they may not be allowed to return to the skies. Photo / Ariana Afghan Airlines, Screenshot

News that Afghanistan's national carrier Airana Afghan Airlines would be resuming operations was welcome news to cabin crew, but it appears not everyone got the call to come back to work in Taliban-controlled airspace.

Turkish state news agency TRT says that the flag carrier has been helped by Qatari and Turkish aviation teams to get the Kabul crew base back into operations.

Domestic flights to Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif resumed on 4 September and the Taliban-appointed airline chief Qari Rahmatullah Gulzad said work was underway to relaunch international services between Kabul and New Delhi.

Gulzad thanked the international assistance to restart services and welcomed back employees to AAA planes.

However, female employees of the airline say they have not been asked to return to work, with many worrying that their livelihoods and past freedoms.

On Sunday the BBC reported that female cabin crew are still waiting to hear if they will be allowed to work under the Taliban-controlled airline.

"We didn't get these jobs easily and now these dreams are shattered," said one of the 10 former airline employees who were staying in a Kabul safe house.

Ariana Afghan Airlines: Limited Domestic services resumed from Kabul Airport this Month. Photo / Associated Press

The opportunity to travel internationally and hold public facing jobs now seem like a distant memory.

"Those were the happy days, we may never have opportunities like that again," said another.

Some of the crew were on a scheduled departure when the Hamid Karzai International Airport was overrun by those fleeing the Taliban and were grounded.

Ariana, Kam Air and Pakistan International Airlines are working towards international air links.

PIA said they had planned to operate five services a week between Islamabad and Kabul, yet these were yet to take off.

"We welcome and appreciate this move from Pakistan and urge the international community to help rebuild Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Guardian.

However it is unclear what roles, if any, female staff will be able to hold on the airline of the Taliban controlled country.

On Sunday Kabul's city government told female employees not to return to work. New Taliban restrictions on women means that a third of the local government's 3000 civil servants will not be allowed to work.

"There are some areas that men can't do it, we have to ask our female staff to fulfil their duties, there is no alternative for it," said Kabul's interim Mayor, Hamdullah Namony.