Temporary suspension of Astral’s South Sudan freighters
13 / 07 / 2016
Kenyan-based carrier Astral Aviation temporarily suspended its three times a week cargo flights from Nairobi to Juba, following the outbreak of fighting in South Sudan.
It has however been operating a chartered Fokker 100 on an evacuation mission, landing in Nairobi on July 12 with 96 passengers on board, after Juba airport reopened.
Meanwhile Astral chief executive Sanjeev Gadhia said there was a backlog of 100 tonnes of cargo destined for South Sudan. However, the carrier plans to resume cargo flights on July 15.
Astral was involved in evacuations during the previous South Sudan conflict, ferrying 1,000 passengers to safety between December 2013 and January 2014.
Sanjeev Gadhia will feature in a keynote interview in the July 25 edition of Air Cargo News
