'Kam fly with me the Afghan way'
Updated on 19 February 2008
Blog: It was only a matter of time, I suppose. The EasyJet culture has now reached Afghanistan - in the shape of Kam Air.
Well, you can tell things are changing even as you approach the airport. To your right there's a GREAT BIG SIGN.
The GBS simply says: "New International Terminal From Japan". Which I like. None of the usual nonsense nobody wants to know about international donorship and finance and partnerships and how's your father.
No. Just a new terminal. From Japan. What more could you want to know?
But it's not there yet, of course. Like so many ideas for Afghanistan.
Kam Air however, most certainly has arrived. Which is good because if they don't arrive on any given day then you don't get out of Kabul.
For reasons that are dark and not spoken of, no airline likes to park up overnight on the Kabul apron - so they call in here in a morning frenzy and leave equally full.
The Kam Air revolution is in full swing.
It is not exactly cheap for most Afghans to hop on and off 737's up to Mazr-e-Shari, down to Kandahar or west out to Herat - but at least it is do-able. Once the fog lifts around Kabul.
So it is that you see everyone from the modern-day Afghan movers and shakers in shades, Blackberries and assorted mobiles to guys down from the hills in robes, walking sticks and outrageous tubanism, all jockeying for attention at the check-in counter.
It is sort of ticketless. It is definitely queue-less.
The Kam Air revolution is in full swing ... it's sort of ticketless. It's definitely queue-less.
Kam Air has taken on board one of the central rules of budget airlines: cram everyone on the jet and then wait until every possible passenger in the immediate area of the city who fancies flying to show up at the steps to the fuselage.
And so we wait ... and wait ... and wait. All this after you've gone through the Kabul speciality of having to personally ID all you bags and then load them onto the plane yourself.
Eventually, after 80 minutes of sitting there, it all gets airborne and you are out over the snowy wastes of central Afghanistan.
All passed uneventfully until our approach into Dubai.
Was there a major airport incident today? I have heard no news at all but I can say this. We passed over a large civilian airport and there was - without question - a very big airliner parked at the end of a runway with large volumes of smoke coming out of it.
It was to the south of Dubai. Anybody know anything?
The only other passenger who seemed to notice was our very own cameraman/producer/editor/lighting engineer/soundman/camping expert Stuart Webb, who has basically been doing all the work in Afghanistan, thus freeing me up to take all the credit.
He noticed it too. Trained observer you see.
All information welcomed here in Dubious Dubai as I wait for a 2.55am BA flight to Heathrow. Whose idea of comic scheduling was that?
