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A Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 was able to land in and take off from Kabul on Monday despite chaos at the airport

Thomas Pallini   

A Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 was able to land in and take off from Kabul on Monday despite chaos at the airport
  • A Turkish Airlines plane flew from Istanbul to Kabul on Monday amid chaos at the airport.
  • It landed in Kabul and departed again for Istanbul with more than 320 passengers, reports said.
  • Afghans have tried to flee Kabul by any means necessary, including climbing on departing planes.

While military and civilian aircraft were scrambling to get out of Kabul, Afghanistan, one Turkish Airlines plane was trying to get in.

Turkish Airlines flew what is likely its last flight to Kabul on Monday amid an exodus of civilians following the Taliban's rapid advance through the capital. Despite the mounting tensions in Afghanistan, Flight 706 departed from Istanbul Airport in Turkey early on Monday for Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to Flightradar24.

The airline had been operating the flight consistently through the summer and the weekend. Kabul is one of its more than 300 destinations, many of which are in the Middle East and South Asia.

After entering Afghanistan airspace from neighboring Turkmenistan, the aircraft, a Boeing 777, was in a holding pattern for just short of an hour before continuing on to Kabul for a 7:44 a.m. landing. But instead of using the commercial terminal in Kabul, the aircraft parked at a section of the airport primarily used by the military, Flightradar24 indicated.

The return flight to Istanbul, initially scheduled for 8:15 a.m., didn't depart until after 1 p.m. Flightradar24 showed the aircraft taxiing, returning to its parking spot, and ultimately heading back to the runway. It departed for Istanbul with 324 passengers, according to Turkish media.

The five-hour flight progressed with no issue as it crossed over Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia before entering Turkish airspace. It used Istanbul's commercial terminal.

Photos and videos on Monday showed Afghans swarming the airport and climbing aboard planes in a desperate attempt to flee the country. US military aircraft were evacuating Americans and Afghan special visa applicants trying to come to the US.

Turkish Airlines' other destination in Afghanistan is Mazar-i-Sharif, which fell to the Taliban on Saturday night, The New York Times reported. The last recorded Turkish Airlines flight between Istanbul and Mazar-i-Sharif took place on June 30, according to FlightAware.

Flightradar24 showed that the airline's scheduled flights to Kabul on Tuesday and Wednesday had been canceled.

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