In October 2020, Kenya based Astral Aviation acquired a B767-200F from Air Transport Services Group. Following this acquisition, Astral have announced it will deploy the freighter on the Nairobi to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) route, with effect from 3rd February 2021.
The freighter will offer unrivalled capacity for 80 tonnes per week of flowers and vegetables to the UAE.
Astral will also upgrade the B767-200F on its Nairobi to Johannesburg route which it currently operates on the B727-200F thus increasing the total capacity to 160 tonnes per week to South Africa.
The freighter will also offer capacity on high-priority for the distribution of the Covid vaccine to and within Africa in addition to humanitarian cargo.
Marking the launch of the B767 freighter in Nairobi on 22 January 2021, Astral Aviation chief executive officer, Sanjeev Gadhia reiterated that the newly acquired freighter will complement the existing fleet by providing new opportunities in the 40-tonnes category which was previously underserved in Africa.
The B767F is ideal for Astral’s intra-African network, which comprises 15 scheduled destinations while offering new opportunities to the Middle East, which is an important gateway for East Africa’s air imports and exports.
The Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Kenya, James Macharia, congratulated Astral Aviation on its achievement. Macharia also re-affirmed the commitment of his government to invest optimally in the country’s transport system and to maintain Kenya’s position as the transport hub of the region by outlining plans to modernise and expand aviation facilities.
