Kam Air

Kam Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
RQ KMF KAM AIR
Founded August 2003
Operating bases Kabul International Airport
Secondary hubs Kandahar International Airport
Frequent-flyer program Go Orange
Fleet size 11[1]
Destinations 17
Company slogan Afghanistan's Global Gateway
Headquarters Kabul, Afghanistan
Key people Zmarai Kamgar (Founder & CEO)[2]
Website www.kamair.com

Kam Air (Pashto/Dari: کام ایر) is an airline headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan. It operates scheduled domestic passenger services and regional international services. Kabul International Airport serves as its main hub.[3]

History

Kam Air offices in Kabul

The airline was founded on 31 August 2003 by Zmarai Kamgar. It was the first privately owned passenger airline in Afghanistan.[4] Its first flight took off on 8 November 2003 on a route from Kabul to Herat and Mazari Sharif, using a Boeing 727. Kam Air's first plane was provided by General Abdul Rashid Dostum as payment for supplying Dostum's private militia with fuel and food.[5]

Kam Air has its headquarters in Hamed Karzai International Airport Apron C, and "Ticketing Office Kabul Business Centre Ground Floor Charahi Haji Yaqoob Kabul, Afghanistan". At one time it was located in the Kabul Business Centre in Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul, where a ticket office has operated since 2012.[6][7] Zmarai Kamgar is the Chairman and Chief Executive, Farid Peykar the senior Vice President, Timor Shahab the Vice President and Head of Flight Operations, and Parwiz Kamgar the Finance Manager.

Kam Air had announced the launch of European operations commencing in August 2010, with Vienna to receive service, followed by London (Gatwick).[8] However, according to Reuters, both routes were supposedly cancelled by British and Austrian authorities due to aircraft safety issues. Effective 24 November 2010, all Afghan carriers were banned from flying to the European Union because of the country's poor civilian aviation safety record.[9]

In 2017, the company leased a 737 airliner from Slovakia with a 30 member crew, but the contract was terminated after the leasing company raised issues about safety in Afghanistan.[10] As of January 2018, Kam Air operated 90 percent of domestic flights in Afghanistan, and was one of the biggest taxpayers in the country.[10] As of April 2017, the airline had planned to expand its route network to include Toronto, Vienna, Madrid, Munich, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Mumbai, Cape Town, Hangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, Jeddah, Jakarta, Kiev, San Francisco, Moscow and Frankfurt,[11] However as of 17 August 2017 details of this planned expansion have been removed from their website.

Destinations

Former Kam Air Boeing 727-200
Former Kam Air Airbus A320-200

Kam Air serve the following as of August 2017:[12]

Afghanistan
India
Iran
Kazakhstan
Pakistan
Tajikistan
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan

Fleet

Kam Air Boeing 767–200
Kam Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83

As of September 2018, Kam Air has the following aircraft:[1]

Kam Air fleet
Aircraft In Service[1] Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A340-300 3 — TBA
Boeing 737–300 1 — — 149 149
Boeing 737–500 3 — — 126 126
Boeing 767–200 1 — 18 183 201
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 1 — — 165 165
McDonnell Douglas MD-87 2 — — 135 135
Total 11 —

Accidents and incidents

  • On 11 August 2010, Douglas DC-8-63F YA-VIC suffered a tailstrike on take-off from Manston Airport, United Kingdom, destroying an approach light.[17] The aircraft was operating an international cargo flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina via the Cape Verde Islands. The incident was caused by the aircraft being 25,700 pounds (11,700 kg) overweight due to excess fuel load and misestimating of cargo mass. After being informed of the mishap, the crew continued to Cape Verde. An inspection there confirmed the tailstrike, though analysis of the strike indicator showed the plane was still safe. The incident was investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which made various safety recommendations. Kam Air was subsequently banned from operating within the European Union. The three crew involved were also dismissed, and Kam Air announced that it would withdraw its two DC-8s from service.[18]
  • In January 2018, Kam Air reported that nine staff members were killed in a Taliban attack on a hotel in Kabul - seven Ukrainian employees and two Kam air employees from Venezuela.[19] Kam Air had rented 50 rooms for their foreign staff at the hotel, described as one of Kabul's "most heavily guarded."[10] Five were pilots, and four were crew members.[20] Afterwards, over 50 the airline's foreign workers left the country, and by January 26, five of its nine aircraft sat idle due to lack of staffing.[10] A large number of daily flights were also being canceled for that reason.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 kamair.com - Our fleet retrieved 30 September 2018
  2. ↑ "Kam Air – 404 error". Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. p. 99.
  4. ↑ China diverts 'bomb threat' plane. Al Jazeera. 9 August 2009.
  5. ↑ Portfolio at NYU | Best Of: Lord of the Skies – In war-torn Afghanistan, Zamarai Kamgar has built the only private airline. Archived 26 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Contact Us." Kam Air. Retrieved on 30 January 2012. "Kam Air Head Office Ministry of Foreign Affairs Road Opposit [sic] Chinese Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan" and "Ticketing Office Kabul Business Centre Ground Floor Charahi Haji Yaqoob Kabul, Afghanistan"
  7. ↑ ""Contact Us."". Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009. Kam Air. Retrieved on 23 September 2009. "Kamair Headquarters Address: 1st Floor, Kabul Business Centre Char Rahi Haji Yaqub, Shah-e-Naw Kabul Afghanistan Afghanistan"
  8. ↑ "Kam Air of Afghanistan to start Vienna flights". Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Europe bans all Afghan airlines from its airspace". Reuters. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Grounded and Gutted, Main Afghan Airline Struggles After Taliban Attack". The New York Times. January 26, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Kam air routes". Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Kam Air flight schedule". Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  13. ↑ Aliyeva, Diana (29 November 2017). "Kam Air launches first flight from Kabul to Tashkent" (in Russian). Trend.Az. Trend News Agency. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  14. ↑ Harro Ranter (3 February 2005). "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737–242 EX-037 Kabul". Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Afghan plane to Urumqi lands in Kandahar city. Xinhua. 9 August 2009.
  16. ↑ China turns back Xinjiang plane. BBC News. 9 August 2009.
  17. ↑ Hradecky, Simon (12 May 2011). "Report: Kam Air DC86 at Manston on Aug 11th 2010, tail strike on takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  18. ↑ "YA-VIC" (PDF). Air Accidents Investigation Branch. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  19. ↑ "Afghan airline struggles after foreign staff killed in hotel raid". Reuters. January 24, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Kam Air Left Reeling by Deadly Kabul Hotel Attack". Gulf Times. January 22, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Afghanistan's Kam Air struggles to stay afloat after deadly Kabul attack". Arab News. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2018.

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