Astral Aviation to Add MD-83SFs for Intra-African Cargo Operations

Kenyan cargo carrier Astral Aviation is planning to expand its intra-African network following the arrival of six new aircraft next year. The Nairobi-based venture currently has a fleet of three Douglas DC-9 Freighters and access to Boeing 727 and 737 models as well as some smaller regional turboprop types. However, it will acquire six McDonnell Douglas MD-83SFs in 2012 and plans expansion across the continent.

Astral Aviation currently offers scheduled freight flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the Kenyan capital to Dar es Salaam and Mwanza in Tanzania; Entebbe, Uganda; Juba, South Sudan and Kigali, Rwanda on a weekly or twice weekly basis. It plans to fly to a number of new markets and has highlighted Angola, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe for future development.

Alongside its scheduled operations Astral Aviation also offers charter capacity and has been involved in a number of emergency relief operations in Africa most notably the Niamey Famine, the Darfur Crisis, the Southern Sudan Relief Operations, the Mozambique & Madagascar Floods, the Eastern Congo Crisis, the Goma Volcano Eruption, and Humanitarian Crises in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.