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.