Astral expands intra-Africa air cargo network

Astral Aviation has expanded its intra-African network to meet capacity shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Nairobi-headquartered airline said that from May 25 it would add scheduled weekly flights to Lilongwe in Malawi, Lusaka in Zambia and Kismayo and Bosaso in Somalia.

This will increase the total number of destinations it serves on scheduled services to 13.

Chief executive Sanjeev Gadhia said that other countries it flies to include: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Eritrea, Burundi, Madagascar, Djibouti, Yemen and Sudan.

The carrier said that since the coronavirus outbreak, many passenger flights to Africa had been dropped — hitting bellyhold cargo capacity — while there is also limited freighter capacity.

During the pandemic, Astral has operated a number of charter flights for personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical items to various African countries, which have been cut off from the rest of the world, according to Anthony Mwangi, charter manager of Astral Aviation.

Astral Aviation operations director Michael Mutahi said there have been a number of operational challenges relating to crew quarantine restrictions and turn-around at certain airports, however Astral has managed to ensure that its flights continue to operate safely and within the Covid-19 guidelines of the countries that it operates to.

Astral also operates a fleet of B747-400F transporting perishables cargo from its Nairobi hub to Doncaster and Liege, with Network Airline Services, and a fleet of regional freighters, which it operates to over 50 destinations in Africa.

Share this story

Related Topics

Latest freighter operator news

YunExpress targets e-commerce demand with latest 777 freighter

YunExpress has extended its agreement with lessor Atlas Air to include a second Boeing 777-200 freighter that will be used…

Read More

Share this story

Challenge Group launches freighter service to Mumbai

Challenge Group has decided to launch a scheduled freighter route between Mumbai (BOM) and Liège (LGG). Operating twice weekly, the…

Read More

Share this story

Royal Jordanian expands cargo fleet with converted A321 freighter

Royal Jordanian Airlines has introduced an Airbus A321 converted freighter, providing additional dedicated cargo capacity as part of the carrier’s…

Read More

Share this story

Damian Brett

Damian Brett
I have been writing about the freight and logistics industry since 2007 when I joined International Freighting Weekly to cover the shipping sector.After a stint in PR, I have gone on to work for Containerisation International and Lloyds List - where I was editor of container shipping - before joining Air Cargo News in 2015.Contact me on [email protected]