TILMANN GABRIEL, CEO of Safi Airways, part of the Safi Group owned by the Safi family, takes JAN ASLAK STANNIES through the expansion plans of the Afghan carrier
Safi Airways is operating a Boeing B767-200ER and two Boeing B737-300. Are they leased or bought?
The aircraft were bought from Air China and are completely owned by Safi Airways. We are the only airline in Afghanistan that is operating according to the standards of the Europan Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and have recently received the ICAO compliancy certification. Now we are working on the full IOSA audit to join IATA.
What are your plans for the fleet?
We want to add three aircraft to our fleet by the end of this year. In three to five years we want to operate 12 aircraft in a mix of used and new machines.
You fly to Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Why this strong focus on the UAE?
The route to Dubai is served by all Afghan airlines, because it is the hub for the whole region. In July we will move from Terminal 2, which is mostly used by charter and low cost airlines, to Terminal 1, where all major airlines are. This makes it much easier to reach connection flights. Abu Dhabi is a growing airport and we are the only Afghan carrier to fly to the capital of the UAE which offers connections with Etihad and other international airlines. Sharjah is the destination for Afghan workers who connect via Jeddah to Saudi Arabia. It is a strongly price driven segment and I am not sure if we will continue the route, once we fly direct from Kabul to Jeddah.
Why serve Frankfurt three times per week?
Frankfurt offers good worldwide connections for business travellers, diplomats, military, NGOs and aid organisations. Our slots in Frankfurt offer travellers the opportunity to fly at the same day to the US. Also, there is a strong Afghan community in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands.
What will be your next destinations?
Starting this summer we will be flying to Delhi and Jeddah, and soon to Bahrain and Doha. Moscow and China are also on our list for this year. Next year we will be looking for further cities in Europe like Paris, Amsterdam or London.
To date, Kabul is only connected by other Afghan carriers. Are you expecting more competition from the Gulf carriers?
There is also Air India Express flying from Delhi and some connections to the CIS countries neighboring Afghanistan. But all Afghan carriers are already competing on the route to Dubai, and I think the number of competitors will rise. Our aim is to make Kabul an international hub with many more international non stop connections.
How are the seat load factors and bookings on your existing routes?
Very promising, Frankfurt has started very well, and with Safi Airways being available in all GDS systems since May, we have an increase by five per cent on our load factors on all routes every month.
What are your plans for the domestic market?
Our B737 can be well used for some regional routes like Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif. But there are a lot of airports that do not have the runway required by a B737. For future regional destinations we will probably use smaller aircraft, but we have not decided whether we will get Turboprops or Regional Jets.
How do you organise maintenance and service for your aircraft?
Our 767 is maintained by Lufthansa technik during its 3 turn arounds at Frankfurt Airport, our 737 we are maintaining ourselves up to the extensive C-check, which is again done by Lufthansa. We have recruited a team of seasoned airline engineers who maintain our aircraft during our daily operation, mainly in Kabul and Dubai.
How safe are the Afghan airports?
The big four airports Kabul, Mazar, Heart and Kandahar are safe, we have our own security team to establish daily intelligence briefings for potential threats. Kabul airport recently contracted the British Global Securities, which is now checking all international flights with intense checks of aircraft, crews, passengers and baggage/cargo. No aircraft is allowed to leave Afghanistan airspace which is not thoroughly checked by Global.