Ariana does a phoenix

Birds are nesting in the cockpit of an Ilyushin. The back of the Antonov is broken open. It is the proud aircraft destroyed by artillery fir...

Birds are nesting in the cockpit of an Ilyushin. The back of the Antonov is broken open. It is the proud aircraft destroyed by artillery fire during the 1990s. Hot spring sun glints off the shrapnel-peppered fuselage of an airplane that once plied the Amsterdam to Kabul run.

Welcome to Kabul International Airport, where Afghanistan8217;s national airline Ariana has laid the bulk of its fleet to rest 8212; the wrecks from 23 years of war piled one on top of another. But the once-proud airline that used to ferry the rich and hip to trendy holiday spots in Afghanistan hopes to become the phoenix of the airline industry, rising from the ashes of war to re-connect the country with the world.

8216;8216;In the 8217;60s, we had a lot of tourists. They all wanted to walk in the footsteps of Marco Polo,8217;8217; said Ariana8217;s vice-president for Operations, 66-year-old Feda Fedawi. 8216;8216;With peace, I hope the good times will return,8217;8217; he said.

Ariana was grounded in November 1999 when the UN imposed sanctions on the Taliban. After clearing mines and repairing a cratered runway at Kabul airport, it returned to international skies in January 8212; the fuel hand-pumped into the inaugural flight to New Delhi.

The State-owned airline currently operates two aircraft 8212; all that remains of a once varied fleet of more than 20 aircraft 8212; to New Delhi, Islamabad and Dubai.

The Ariana experience begins downtown at the company8217;s main ticket office at the Kabul Hotel. It8217;s a ticket office with a difference 8212; the first and second floors are open to the air after a bomb exploded there two years ago. The lines of reservation desks are empty and the windows were bricked up years ago to protect customers from flying shrapnel.

Checking in at the airport gives the true flavour of post-conflict Afghanistan. Pick your way past security guards, whose hands will feel every inch of your body. Try not to look at pock marks left by mortar shells. If you8217;re lucky, there will be electricity. Otherwise, the Ariana staff will check you in by the light of a small gas lamp.

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The ride out to the aircraft from the terminal is not for the weak-hearted. A single bullet hole has punctured the windscreen of the decrepit passenger bus. 8216;8216;Not many people have heard of Ariana. I8217;m sort of looking forward to the flight. But I do feel a bit nervous,8217;8217; said Peter Rudden, a South African television technician, who was returning home after working in Kabul. During their six-year rule, the Taliban changed the face of Afghanistan. Stewardesses were fired en masse. The male staff were told to grow beards. With the return of peace, the beards have gone and the stewardesses are back in make-up, jewellery and perfume.

The airline hopes to capture a large share of a potentially lucrative market of aid workers, returning refugees, journalists and diplomats heading in and out of Afghanistan. Very soon, Ariana hopes to add Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and a second Indian destination to its growing network, helped by donations of a a few aircraft from India.

Reuters