Kam Air is an airline based in Kabul International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan that operates both domestic and international flights. It was founded on August 30th 2003 by Zamari Kamgar.
History[]
When founded, It was the first privately owned airline in Afghanistan. Its first flight was on 8th November 2003 from Kabul to Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif using a Boeing 727, while the first international flight was inaugurated in May 2004 between Kabul and Dubai. It is banned from entering the European Union due to poor records.
On 25 January 2013, the US blacklisted Kam Air citing a US army investigation that the airline smuggled opium on civilian flights to Tajikistan, an allegation denied by the airline and the Afghan government. The ban was suspended a month later.
On 24 February 2021, Kam Air operated Afghanistan's first ever all-female crew flight. The airline's former first and last commercial female Afghan pilot, then 22-year-old Mohadese Mirzaee, joined now former Captain Veronica Borysova from Ukraine in piloting the Boeing 737-500 from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to Herat. Aside from Veronica the female crew was entirely made up of females from the Hazara ethnic group. The event made global headlines and was first covered by Josh Cahill who documented the flight, and later featured on the BBC, DW and the Business Insider. The flight took 90 minutes.
In response to the collapse of the government following the fall of Kabul, Kam Air flew some of its planes to Iran to prevent damage during the turmoil.
Fleet[]
Current[]
The Kam Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of January 2017):
| Aircraft | In fleet | Order | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A340-300 | 4 | 1 | 346 | To be delivered in 2020 |
| ATR 42-500 | 2 | 0 | 48 | |
| Boeing 737-300 | 3 | 0 | 149 | |
| Boeing 737-400 | 1 | 0 | 156 | |
| Boeing 737-500 | 1 | 2 | 126 | |
| Boeing 767-200ER | 2 | 1 | 199 | 2 in storage |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 1 | 1 | 141 | 1 in storage, 1 to be delivered in 2020 |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | 1 | 0 | 165 | |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | 2 | 0 | 125 | |
| Total | 17 | 4 |
Retired[]
Kam Air previously operated the following aircraft:
- Airbus A320-200
- Antonov An-24
- Boeing 737-200
- Boeing 737-300
- Boeing 737-800
- Boeing B747-200F
- Boeing 767-200ER
- Douglas DC-8-63F
- Yakovlev Yak-40