Intra-Africa trade grows airfreight volumes

Expanding intra-African trade links are helping airfreight volumes in the region to grow, says Arnold Vosloo of Network Airline Services (NAS). With airfreight volumes increasing by an average of 15% a year, Astral Aviation has increased the frequency on a number of routes and introduced new services. Kenya-based Astral Aviation is a partner of NAS. It operates a fleet of Fokker 27 aircraft for loads of five tons and less, in addition to DC9 freighter and B727 Freighter aircraft. They are hubbed out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya. A B737-400 Freighter will be added to the fleet in September 2014. Astral connects to the rest of the region through an intra-African network which flies to over 50 destinations. The company operates a combination of non-scheduled and ad-hoc charters, along with value-added leasing services. “We have increased the Nairobi-Pemba service from weekly to twice weekly, and there is a new service from Nairobi to Zanzibar,” says Vosloo. This is in addition to an existing freighter service which flies from Johannesburg to Nairobi and onwards to Juba – Mogadishu – Dar es Salaam – Mwanza – Entebbe – Kigali. The airline operates a B747- 400 Freighter twice weekly on the Nairobi – London Stansted – Liege – Lagos – Nairobi route. New offices have been opened at the Entebbe International Airport and representative offices established in Pemba, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Kigali, Mogadishu and Juba. Charles Simiyu has been appointed commercial director to strengthen the management team.