Kenyan cargo carrier Astral Aviation will deploy its B767-200F freighter on the Nairobi–Sharjah route from February 3 with capacity for 80 tonnes per week of flowers and vegetables to the UAE.
Astral will also upgrade the B767-200F on its Nairobi–Johannesburg route, which it currently operates with a B727-200F,increasing the total capacity to 160 tonnes per week to South Africa.
The freighter will offer capacity for the distribution of the Covid vaccine to and within Africa, in addition to humanitarian cargo.
These changes follow the lease of the B767-200F from Air Transport Services Group in October 2020.
Astral Aviation chief executive Sanjeev Gadhia re-iterated 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 freighter’s induction to the Astral fleet also marks an important milestone for the aviation industry as it recovers from the effects of the pandemic, which led to an 8% decline in cargo volumes in 2020 in Kenya.
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes which includes 9,000m² of cold room facilities. It is the leading cargo hub in Africa.
In December 2020, Astral Aviation selected Sharjah International Airport as its Middle Eastern hub, in addition to its existing European hub at Liege International Airport in Belgium and its African hub at JKIA in Nairobi, Kenya. Sharjah International Airport has facilities to handle temperature-controlled perishable, pharma, and healthcare cargo.
