Astral Aviation appoints new GSA’s to key global markets
Astral Aviation Limited announced two strategic appointments that will enhance its global presence and service delivery. Network Aviation Group has been appointed as the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Europe and the United States of America, while HIT Cargo Asia will serve as the GSA for mainland People’s Republic of China. These appointments reflect Astral […]
ASTRAL AVIATION MARKS MAJOR MILESTONE
Celebrating its 25th anniversary at air cargo Africa, Astral Aviation has become a cornerstone of the region’s airfreight industry. The inspiration to establish the carrier in the 2000 came from the realisation that there was a lack of freighter aircrafts in Africa which hampered the movement of humanitarian cargoes to and within Africa. For a […]
Bridging Africa and Abu Dhabi
Looking to foster economic growth in both the UAE and Africa, Etihad Cargo and Astral Aviation inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi to build on the opportunity in the busy trade lane. Africa exports perishables into the Middle East, mainly comprised of flowers, fresh fruits, vegetables and meat, while it imports consumer […]
Etihad Cargo and Astral Aviation’s inaugural flight: Abu Dhabi to Nairobi connection
Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Airways, in partnership with Astral Aviation, a leading cargo airline with extensive African network coverage, completed the inaugural flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 21 March 2024. This flight marked the commencement of a promising collaboration following the Memorandum of Understanding […]
Astral Aviation enters into Global Sales Partnership with Euro Cargo Aviation and Take Off Aviation
As of 1st January 2024, Euro Cargo Aviation and Take Off Aviation have taken on responsibility for promoting Astral Aviation’s cargo services within the designated regions. This will involve marketing the airline’s cargo capacity to potential clients, businesses, freight forwarders, and other relevant entities. READ: Suid Cargo – South Africa’s newest cargo airline launches Astral […]
Astral Aviation launches new freighter route to fly perishables from Nairobi to Tel Aviv
Astral Aviation (Astral) inaugurated its maiden flight from Nairobi to Tel Aviv on 5th June on its Boeing 757 freighter which will operate on the new scheduled route. The colorful inauguration ceremony held at Astral’s Hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was attended by the Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya, Hon Mithika Linturi, […]
Suid Cargo – South Africa’s newest cargo airline launches
Suid Cargo Airlines, South Africa’s newest Cargo Airline, will begin non-scheduled flights from its hub at OR Tambo International Airport in the second quarter of 2023 utilising a leased Boeing 727-200F from Kenya’s Astral Aviation, in addition to Astral’s Boeing 747-400F, Boeing 767 and Boeing 757F on charter basis. Making the announcement at the air […]
Etihad Cargo signs MoU with Astral Aviation to expand African network
Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Airways, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Astral Aviation Ltd to expand the partnership between the two parties and enhance the cooperation between Abu Dhabi and Nairobi, further growing Etihad Cargo’s reach into the African market. Through the comprehensive MoU, Etihad Cargo’s customers will benefit […]
Making a success of Africa’s cargo market
In its 22nd year of operation, Astral Aviation is cementing its status as Africa’s leading all-cargo airline with a global footprint. The airline was originally launched to provide charter solutions to the humanitarian fraternity due to the close proximity of Kenya to regions in the horn and Central parts of Africa. Using wet-leased freighters, Astral […]
Astral Aviation enters into strategic partnership with Air Logistics Group
Astral Aviation has entered into a strategic partnership with Air Logistics Group as it gears up for growth into Europe and the United States (USA) in 2023. The new commercial partnership with Air Logistics Group will enable Astral Aviation to offer more opportunities to its clients in Kenya, Europe, and the USA, with the objective of […]
Astral Aviation selects ACL Airshop as a strategic partner
Astral Aviation, headquartered in Nairobi with air cargo operations throughout Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Europe, has confirmed a multi-year ULD (Unit Load Device) agreement with ACL Airshop, a leading international service partner for outsourced ULD management and customized logistics solutions. The two companies have been doing business together for roughly fifteen years already. Astral […]
NAC places two Embraer E190F with Astral Aviation
Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), the world’s largest regional aircraft leasing company, has agreed a memorandum of understanding to place the first two E190F passenger-to-freight conversions with Astral Aviation, based in Nairobi, Kenya. In May 2022, NAC and Embraer reached an agreement in principle to take up to 10 conversion slots for E190F/E195F, with first deliveries […]
Etihad Cargo signs SLA with Astral Aviation
Etihad Cargo has expanded its pharma sector reach into Africa with the signing of a Service Legal Agreement (SLA) with Astral Aviation and Kenya Airways to provide reliable and cost-effective airfreight solutions across the continent. Operating a fleet of 14 freighters out of its Nairobi and Johannesburg hub, Astral Aviation services a network of 15 […]
Airlink Cargo South Africa and Astral Aviation sign interline agreement
Airlink Cargo South Africa and Astral Aviation have signed a broad interline agreement connecting the networks of the two companies. This new commercial partnership is bound to boost airfreight cargo logistics in Africa, providing more options and access to the Sub-Saharan market through the two airlines’ hubs in Johannesburg and Nairobi. Thanks to the interline […]
Silk Way West Airlines expands footprint in Africa
Silk Way West Airlines has signed an interline agreement with Kenya’s Astral Aviation. This interline agreement is to provide cross-selling benefits for both sides by using the wide network of flights to and from Africa. In line with the agreement, Al Maktoum International Airport of the UAE, also known as Dubai World Central (DWC), will […]
Sanjeev Gadhia: In my opinion…
Astral Aviation CEO, Sanjeev Gadhia on how Kenya and East Africa are preparing for vaccine transportation. “With the arrival of 1 million doses in Kenya and 840,000 doses in Uganda of the AstraZeneca Vaccines from the COVAX Facility and a donation of 100,000 doses to Kenya and Uganda by the Government of India, both countries […]
Astral Aviation help UNICEF transport vaccines
Astral Aviation Limited has signed an agreement with UNICEF to support the launch of its Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative for the prioritisation of delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, essential medicines, medical devices and other critical supplies to respond to the pandemic. “Delivery of these life-saving vaccines is a monumental and complex undertaking, considering the sheer volumes that […]
Planting the seed for growth: Astral Aviation
Momentum built from the last year has meant Kenya based Astral Aviation has hit the tarmac running into the New Year. “2020 was an interesting year for Astral Aviation as it marked its 20th Anniversary in the midst of the biggest crisis in the aviation sector,” explains Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO of Astral. “The outlook in […]
On the flight deck with… Sanjeev Gadhia
On the busy day of the inauguration of Astral Aviation’s new Boeing 767 fleet member, ACW managed to steal a minute with CEO, Sanjeev Gadhia. Going in to 2021, what is one thing that makes you optimistic for air cargo recovery? Vaccine rollout in parts of Europe, USA, India & China will improve business confidence, […]
Astral Aviation inaugurate new B767
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 […]
Astral Aviation increases flights within Africa during Covid-19
Astral Aviation has increased its intra-African network with cargo freighters during the pandemic. While there has been a reduction in capacity to, from, and within Africa, which has been caused by a stoppage of passenger flights and limited frequencies on freighter aircraft, Astral Aviation continues to operate cargo freighters from its Nairobi hub to 13 destinations […]
Polmans and Gadhia to head up TIACA board
Steven Polmans will take over as chairman of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) next month, joined Sanjeev Gadhia as vice chairman. Polmans, the director of cargo and logistics at Brussels Airport Company joined the TIACA board in 2016, and served as vice chairman for two years. He will replace Sebastiaan Scholte, CEO of Jan […]
U-Freight brings power to the people of Chad
U-Freight Holland, the Dutch subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based freight forwarding and logistics company, successfully handled the multimodal shipment of electricity power cables from Europe to Africa late last year. The 16 rolls of transmission cables were required urgently in Chad, where the country’s power utility, National Electricity Company (SNE) is rehabilitating generating assets to […]
Network Airline Management expands managed fleet
Network Airline Management (NAM), a division of the Network Aviation Group (NAG), and Astral Aviation have expanded their managed fleet adding a B747-400BCF to their fleet. The B747-400BCF is wet-leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic and joins the B747-400F nose loader also supplied by the Icelandic carrier. This further compliments the two MD11Fs on wet lease […]
Astral Aviation delivers humanitarian aid to stricken Yemen
Astral Aviation operated a humanitarian flight on Saturday (25 November) from Nairobi to war-torn Sanaa in Yemen with 15 tonnes of vaccines for over 600,000 children against diphtheria, tetanus and other diseases. The African carrier ran the Boeing 727-200 flight on behalf of Chapman Freeborn and UNICEF into Sanaa Airport, which had been closed from 6 November. […]
TIACA and AFRAA sign MoU to support cargo development in Africa
The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) and the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work closely on issues affecting air cargo, from security to digitisation. The MoU was signed at the 49th AFRAA Annual General Assembly (AGA) in Kigali, Rwanda, and TIACA will collaborate with AFRAA’s 40 members from […]
NAM and Astral sign wet lease deal for B747F with Air Atlanta
Network Airline Management (NAM) and Kenya-based Astral Aviation have signed a long-term wet lease with Air Atlanta Icelandic adding a factory-built, nose-loader B747-400 Freighter to their existing managed fleet of three MD11Fs. The B747-400F made its inaugural flight from London Stansted Airport to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport yesterday, expanding NAM’s capacity to East Africa. […]
TIACA ES: Astral to start testing the Flyox drone
African carrier Astral Aviation is to start testing its two-tonne Flyox drone in Malawi next month as it looks to start operating regular flights, writes Justin Burns. Speaking at The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) Executive Summit in Miami in the ‘Unmanned aircraft and new airline technology’ session on 19 October, chief executive officer, Sanjeev […]
Celebi Delhi and Astral Aviation CEOs join TIACA board of directors
TIACA is expanding its global reach by welcoming the CEOs of Celebi Delhi Cargo and Astral Aviation to the board of directors. Ramesh Mamidala is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management, and has over 22 years of air cargo experience, having previously worked for companies including Qatar Airways and Emirates […]
NAM and Astral Aviation fly urgent relief goods to Somaliland
Network Airline Management (NAM) and Astral Aviation transported over 57 tonnes of urgent humanitarian relief goods on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross to a field hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland earlier this month. The cargo, which was mainly IV fluid, was flown from Liege to Nairobi on Astral’s and NAM’s wet leased B747-400F. From Nairobi, […]
