Review: Kam Air A340-300 Kabul-Dubai
- Konrad Tillman
- Apr 5
- 8 min read
Intro
I hope you have enjoyed reading about Afghanistan as much as I have written about it, as the time to leave this beautiful country is here. Visiting the likes of Bamian, driving through the scenic landscapes, kicking the football around with the Taliban, and seeing aspects of the country I wish I hadn't seen, made for an amazing trip overall. To conclude the great Afghanistan, I decided to fly Kam Air from Kabul to Dubai on their A340-300. While I also reviewed the outbound of this flight, I hope to show you another glimpse of this rare airline and the airport in Kabul.
So how was Kam Air on their A340-300? Once again, not bad at all. Sure there was no IFE or streaming, but a mostly empty plane and some good food, I arrived in Dubai fresh as an Afghan mountain stream, untouched and full of promise.
Route-Kabul-Dubai
Flight Number- RQ901
Seat- 9K
Aircraft- Airbus A340-300
Date- March 20th, 2025
Flight Time- 3 Hours and 1 Minutes
Price Paid- 430$ Roundtrip
How I Booked
When heading to Kabul, you have a couple of different options to choose from. Turkish Airlines, Kam Air, Fly Dubai, and Ariana Afghan Airlines are some of these.
In the past few years, Kam Air and their A340-300s have always fascinated me, so when the option came to book it, it was a no-brainer. I was pleased to find that Kam Air takes US credit cards as well, as that also surprised me…
Sure Ariana would have been nice on one of the legs, but the airline flies a 737 to Dubai so yeah… no. I WANT MY A340!!
Gaining Entrance To Kabul Airport
Finishing up a long morning and early afternoon visiting the giant Taliban flag, it was time to get going on the crazy drive to the airport. Kabul is no joke traffic-wise, to go 3 km ended up taking us a whopping 70 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic!
By 3 pm, we had reached the outskirts of Kabul International Airport (formerly known as Hamid Karzai International Airport). The Taliban were gathering in force, flags waving, RPGs slung across their shoulders—an intense sight that hit you like a punch to the gut.
Abandoned guard towers and Humvees, still armed with mounted turrets, stood as grim reminders of the US military’s presence. It felt as though the US had never truly left, and the Taliban had simply taken control. It was straight out of a war film—surreal and unsettling.
The guide informed us that it is better to walk due to the extensive security measures that are put in place for cars and that we did, through many checkpoints, 3 to be precise.
I actually left my small back with my passport and money in the X-ray scanner and didn't realize it until 20 minutes later. When we went back, I was given it with a big smile. This summed up the Afghan hospitality, and also the lack of corruption (interestingly) in the country.
Walking through the maze to get to the international terminal, we eventually arrived and I gave a big hug to my guide goodbye. Only to be greeted by yet another Taliban checkpoint asking about my job and yada yada yada. I wear my student hoodie and carry a student ID which helped tremendously.
Check-In
Entering the terminal, the first thing that struck me was how modern it is. Supposedly the UAE has invested in the airport and also run the security, who knows...
Anyways, the check-in counter is small in Kabul, and with less than 60 people on the flight (Fly Kabul, Kam Air, and Ariana all fly to Dubai within 90 minutes of each other) my boarding pass was printed in no time.
And this was it, my final interactions with the Taliban regime. Sort of sad in some ways as they treated me very well (I am talking about me only here). Arriving at the checkpoint they even asked if any of the officers gave me any problems, which they didn't.
Passport stamped, security cleared, it was time to head off to the cafe. Interestingly, I met some more foreigners who all were working for the UN, and like in South Sudan and Somalia, they called me crazy for visiting 😅.
Kabul Departure Area
The Kabul departure area is quite a nice area to relax and recoup (wait till you read about Juba, comical), with plenty of shops selling nuts to multiple souvenir shops (no 9/11 rugs here, story for another time). I sat down at a coffee shop and met a lovely man who offered me his hotspot.
Bye Bye, Mr. Max 8.
Boarding
For 2 hours I got some work done for an international conflict class before boarding was called at 4:40 pm local time. There are a couple of jetbridges at Kabul airport, but it seems like only the international carriers pay for them.
But in Kabul, I prefer it. Not only did we get a glimpse of a Kam Air 737, but we got up and close with the majestic A340-300 taking us over to Dubai. What a plane this is: truly extraordinary.
Up the stairs, I was greeted by the commonly found lovely cabin crew of Kam Air. Interestingly, they spend 36 hours on the ground in Dubai which doesn't make a lot of sense...
The Seat/Cabin
Similar to the outbound, I had selected seats in the forward cabin which are laid out in a 3-3-3 configuration, but with a blocked middle seat. If you are looking for the traditional 2-4-2 setup, select seats not in the forward cabin...
However, I did notice a couple of differences with these seats versus the last ones. For starters, the colors seemed to be a bit darker, and secondly, the legroom was maybe an inch tighter. 🥴
Departure
Right on time at 5:10 pm local time, the Australian Captain (bet you weren't guessing that) came on to welcome us onboard as the cabin crew proceeded to close the doors. He informed us that a delay was going to occur due to cargo, but we hopefully would be pushing back shortly.
Well, by 5:15 the cabin doors were re-opened at which point I thought: "oh great, I am going to miss Emirates First Class and this plane is not going to take off today".
By 5:40 pm the cabin doors were once again closed, and the crew came around to hand out a small candy as well as a bottle of water to passengers. This small touch goes a long way and is something that Kam Air does right.
A few minutes later a tug was attached and we were rolling out to the runway past some beautiful-looking planes. I mean, I can't even name half of the airlines we taxied by. I see an AN-72 but who's??
Eventually, we made it to the end of the runway, where we departed right on the dot at 5:57 pm local time with some gorgeous sunset views. What a time to be alive.
The departure out of Kabul is quite an interesting one due to the surrounding terrain. Within minutes of takeoff, you take quite a hard right bank in order to gain altitude, before heading out to the East of Kabul. However, it does provide fantastic views of the city.
With the slow rate of climb on the A340-300, and presumably the heavy cargo, we didn't end up reaching our cruising altitude until about 25-30 minutes after departure.
Meal Service
If you recall from the previous flight, the meal service came out immediately after takeoff to make sure everyone could eat before the sun came up. Well, on this flight it was the opposite, the cabin crew waited until the sun came down which was at 6:10 pm Dubai time before distributing the meals.
Once the cabin crew arrived at my row, I was offered the choice of soft drinks, water, and tea, as well as either beef or chicken. I ended up with a nice cup of Fanta and the beef which was decent.
Kam Air does quite a good job with the meal service for a short flight in economy. Can't really ask for more can you?
Lavatories
Before heading off for an afternoon nap, I checked out the lavatory close by to door 2R. I won't speak about it too much as it was vastly similar to the outbound flight...
Arrival
Considering that there are no amenities or streaming onboard (say goodbye to Wifi), I decided to tuck in for a nap with my trio of seats and slept for about an hour until we were on short final into Dubai International.
We ended up touching down behind schedule at 7:58 pm local time (not a lot, but a little behind) and unlike the previous landing into Kabul which was butter, this was a cruncher.
From there we had a short taxi over to a remote stand, which turned out to be the very exact remote stand I would depart from on Emirates the next day lol.
And just like that, the exploration part of this trip had come to an end. Time to head off to the Emirates First Class Lounge and consume 18 (I am exaggerating) beef tenderloins. Thanks for following along with the Afghanistan series, and hope you enjoyed it.
Final Thoughts
Flying what will probably be my last flight ever with Kam Air was beautiful all around. Sure the product isn't great, but in the grand scheme of things, I would choose Kam Air when flying to Afghanistan. The on-time performance in the recent while is decent, the food is quite good, the crew is nice, and the seats have fine legroom. But the main seller is being able to sit on A340-300 for a 2-and-a-half-hour flight.
To me, the only other aircraft I would have rather been on in the whole world is the A310 or the IL-96, how about you? Thanks for tuning in, and stay tuned for the next stop: The Seychelles 🇸🇨!
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