- Astral Aviation announced the appointment of Darryl Judd to its Board as Executive Director and Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer (CSTO).
- Based in Dubai, Judd will operate across Astral’s businesses in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, bringing an incisive external perspective to the Board and leading the company’s shift to a more robust scheduled-network model anchored in a customer-first mindset, operational discipline, safety, and performance.
From its African and Middle East bases, Astral is extending its footprint east and south into Asia and Oceania, supported by a growing portfolio of scheduled routes aligned to long-term customer program flying. Key hubs include Dubai, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Hong Kong. Astral’s network momentum is reinforced by 60+ interline agreements and strategic collaborations with leading global carriers which extend distribution and uplift options via hubs such as Nairobi, Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
These arrangements enable end-to-end solutions for Astral’s customers while amplifying the reach of its scheduled flights and dedicated program flying.
Sanjeev Gadhia, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Astral Aviation, said: “Darryl joins at exactly the right time. We are accelerating the shift toward a more scheduled network, building on the scheduled services we already operate and that demands end-to-end transformation across the business. From network and capacity planning to operations control, station performance and customer programs, we’re tightening our operating system to deliver reliability at scale. We’re modernising the wide-body fleet and aligning partnerships to support demand across Africa, the Middle East and AsiaPacific. Darryl’s mandate is clear: keep the customer at the centre of our universe and hard-wire operational rigidity and discipline into how we operate. His airline leadership across complex markets will help us grow with precision while safeguarding the standards our partners expect.”
As CSTO, Judd will:
• Lead the enterprise-wide shift from primarily non-scheduled operations to a disciplined scheduled network, tightly integrated with customer dedicated flying programs.
• Shape fleet and network development in sync with customer programs; near-term: additional B767-300F capacity, with B777 Freighters under evaluation.
• Orchestrate strategy, portfolio development and capital partnerships, elevating governance, performance management and investor engagement to underwrite the next phase of growth.
• Elevate people capability and the operating system, hard-wiring safety, reliability, on-time performance and operational rigour across stations and functions.
Judd brings more than three decades of airline and air cargo leadership. He served in senior executive roles at Ansett Australia and was part of the Ansett New Zealand start-up team, shaping a customer-focused approach to airline and cargo products and network development.
His experience includes directing aircraft leasing programs at AWAS (Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services) and Alfa Aerospace (AMS) and held executive responsibility for the airfreight and intra-regional logistics growth portfolios at A.P. Moller– Maersk across IMEA.
Judd is Managing Partner of Logistics Executive Group, a corporate advisory organisation supporting airlines and logistics businesses across multiple markets. He has previously supported Astral’s Board on strategic investment matters and now joins to help steer the next chapter.
Darryl Judd commented: “Astral is supercharged for growth off the back of its fleet renewal, expanding long-haul reach and a powerful partner ecosystem. My focus is straightforward: intent into impact—turn strategy into scheduled capacity, reliable operations and measurable customer outcomes. We will be uncompromising on safety and performance, invest in our people, and scale solutions that make Astral the most customer-driven cargo airline linking Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.”
