Greece takes over Thursday as the lead nation of the Kabul International Airport (KAIA) for the next four months.

In the ceremony of transferring power in KAIA, former commander of KAIA Colonel Luis Antonio said, "This change of command ceremony brings an end to four months of Portuguese lead to KAIA of debarkation. Since Aug. 1 until yesterday KAIA tower controlled 14,000 military and civilian aircraft, KAIA combined air terminal operations managed 34,000 military passengers and 13,000 metric tons of military cargo."

"The goal is to changeover to an Afghan-led airport operation taking into account how important the rehabilitation of KAIA is to the economic and social development of Afghanistan," he added.

The new KAIA commander Colonel Konstantinos Prionas said, "I will lead the efforts of such a dedicated personnel, to maintain and improve the capability and safety of this airport, supporting that way the peace and security in Afghanistan."

The newly-appointed commander is the 15th of KAIA since December 2001, when International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) took over the command of the place. The end-state goal is to have the airport transition to an Afghan-led, 24-hour, 7 days a week operation. The rehabilitation of the airport and the opening of Afghan airspace by providing effective air traffic control capability will contribute to the economic and social development of Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua