The airline was founded on 31 August 2003 by Zmarai Kamgar. It was the first privately-owned passenger airline in Afghanistan. Its first flight took off on 8 November 2003 on a route from Kabul to Herat and Mazari Sharif, using a Boeing 727. Kam Air's first plane was provided by General Abdul Rashid Dostum as payment for supplying Dostum's private militia with fuel and food. Kam Air has its headquarters in Hamid Karzai International Airport Apron C, and "Ticketing Office Kabul Business Centre Ground Floor Charahi Haji Yaqoob Kabul, Afghanistan". At one time it was located in the Kabul Business Centre in Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul, where a ticket office has operated since 2012. Zmarai Kamgar is the chairman and chief executive, Farid Peykar the senior vice president, Timor Shahab the vice president and head of flight operations, and Parwiz Kamgar the finance manager. Kam Air had announced the launch of Europe operations commencing in August 2010, with Vienna to receive service, followed by London. However, according to Reuters, both routes were supposedly cancelled by British and Austrian authorities due to aircraft safety issues. Effective 24 November 2010, all Afghan carriers were banned from flying to the European Union because of the country's poor civilian aviation safety record. In 2017, the company leased a 737 airliner from Slovakia with a 30 member crew, but the contract was terminated after the leasing company raised issues about safety in Afghanistan. As of January 2018, Kam Air operated 90 percent of domestic flights in Afghanistan, and was one of the biggest taxpayers in the country. As of April 2017, the airline had planned to expand its route network to include Toronto, Vienna, Madrid, Munich, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Mumbai, Cape Town, Hangzhou, Hat Yai, Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, Jeddah, Jakarta, Kyiv, San Francisco, Moscow and Frankfurt, However as of 17 August 2017 details of this planned expansion have been removed from their website.
Destinations
As of September 2019, Kam Air flies to a total of 15 destinations including 7 domestic destinations and 8 international destinations in 8 countries
Codeshare agreements
Kam Air has codeshares with the following airlines:
On 11 August 2010, Douglas DC-8-63F YA-VIC suffered a tailstrike on take-off from Manston Airport, United Kingdom, destroying an approach light. The aircraft was operating an international cargo flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, via the Cape Verde Islands. The incident was caused by the aircraft being overweight due to excess fuel load and misestimating of cargo mass. After being informed of the mishap, the crew continued to Cape Verde. An inspection there confirmed the tailstrike, though analysis of the strike indicator showed the plane was still safe. The incident was investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which made various safety recommendations. Kam Air was subsequently banned from operating within the European Union. The three crew involved were also dismissed, and Kam Air announced that it would withdraw its two DC-8s from service.
In January 2018, Kam Air reported that nine staff members were killed in a Taliban attack on a hotel in Kabul – seven Ukrainian employees and two Kam air employees from Venezuela. Kam Air had rented 50 rooms for their foreign staff at the hotel, described as one of Kabul's "most heavily guarded." Five were pilots, and four were crew members. Afterwards, over 50 of the airline's foreign workers left the country, and by 26 January, five of its nine aircraft sat idle due to lack of staffing. A large number of daily flights were also being canceled for that reason.
