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High above Kabul, the financially strained Taliban government has identified a potentially profitable source of revenue: Afghanistan’s airspace.
With the conflict between Israel and Iran disrupting flight paths earlier this year, airlines found a quieter, shorter route over Afghanistan. Industry insiders estimate the overflight fee at approximately $700 per flight. In 2023, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration eased restrictions on Afghan airspace, enabling more commercial flights to traverse the region two years after the Taliban returned to power.
After decades of war and political shifts, Afghan airspace was largely avoided. Now, it has become a practical option for airlines looking to shorten routes and cut fuel costs. The situation intensified during the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict in June, when the route saw increased traffic, allowing the Taliban to potentially generate millions in revenue.
As airspace over Iran and Iraq was closed or unstable, airlines rerouted over Afghanistan, which posed minimal risk—comparable to flying over open water, according to aerospace and defense consultant Xavier Tytelman based in France.
From an average of about 50 daily flights through Afghanistan in May, numbers surged to roughly 280 after June 13, when regional hostilities erupted, data from Flightradar24 shows. Since then, over 200 flights typically pass through Afghan skies each day, representing an estimated monthly income of around $4.2 million. Exact revenue figures remain unconfirmed, as Afghan authorities have not disclosed budgets or commented publicly.
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