Flying on Afghanistan's Ariana Airlines can be a unique experience, with passengers standing in the aisles at takeoff and greasy mutton served for the in-flight breakfast.
But its president promises that the national carrier will, in a few years, live up to its slogan, "The best of Afghan traditional hospitality".
The reality is a long way off. Mohammad Nadir Atash, 59, president of the company for less than a year, nonetheless has a vision fed by more than 20 years' experience in business in the United States.
"The task of reconstructing Ariana to its standards, to what it was 30 years ago or so, is a huge task," he admitted in an interview with AFP.
Ariana flourished in the 1970s, when Kabul was a fashionable destination, but since then it has suffered.
It has seen 25 years of war, five crashes, a hijacking, a UN Security Council embargo. The airline's reputation is so poor that UN employees are officially banned from boarding flights.
Ariana's recent inclusion on a European Union blacklist for not meeting safety standards has forced the company to subcontract its flights to Frankfurt, its only destination in Europe, to French group Eagle Aviation.
And then there is corruption, the main problem, which Atash concedes is "an obstacle to reconstruction". It extends from bribes and theft to nepotism and "political" appointments.
Atash does not have any illusions about his chances of success in the fight against graft. But, "The war has started and let's see where it takes us," he says.
A good entrepreneur - he still has a chain of garages in the United States, the president has a plan to give Ariana back its wings.
He wants to break the public company into half a dozen independent entities, each of which would be charged with a specific aspects of the flight business, such as domestic routes, cargo, food and fuel.
Ariana itself would concentrate on the international market.
"Each company will be operated independently and with extensive input and (finance) from the private sector," he says.
Ariana would stay a minority shareholder and itself become privatised, with 20 percent remaining with the government.
Atash thinks this path can only bring success. In in-flight meals, for example, "We do the catering and it is not done adequately. We want to do it professionally and with today's standards," he says.
He is counting on foreign enterprises to sign up, bringing with them an injection of cash and a good dose of know-how.
On the financial side, Ariana is not doing too badly, says Atash, with turnover of 89 million dollars last year. If it weren't for investments worth 18 million dollars, it would have made a profit of between five and six million dollars.
The carrier would be doing even better if the government repaid a debt of 40 to 50 million dollars accumulated over the years.
Atash expects his new plan to be in place in three months, once it is approved by the government.
The change will help it deal with its problem of overstaffing.
"By the end of the restructuring process, we anticipate that between 500 and 700 employees will be with Ariana. Right now we have 2,000," Atash says.
He hopes the redundant staff will be picked by the new companies. "Our objective is to leave no one behind."
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