Astral Aviation moves 20 tonnes of vaccine in its maiden flight from India to Yemen

Astral Aviation, the Kenya-based cargo-only carrier, has uplifted 19.5 tonnes humanitarian cargo of vaccines in its first cargo flight from Mumbai International Airport Mumbai, India to Sanaa International Airport, Yemen via Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO and founder, Astral Aviation, stated, “Astral has never operated any flights to and from India which has been served via interline partners. During the pandemic, due to lack of direct capacity and connectivity between India and Africa, Astral has received a number of requests for the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines and pharma to and within Africa which are originating from Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. This inaugural flight offers new opportunities for Astral’s clients to move freight from India via Astral’s Nairobi hub, and we look forward to operate more charters in 2021 due to the high demand for medical cargo.”
The aircraft arrived in Mumbai on April 18 at 16.00 hrs GMT from Nairobi via Muscat. On return, the routing will be from Mumbai-Djibouti (Ambouli International Airport)-Sanaa. As Ambouli airport is close to Yemen, all planes flying humanitarian cargo is expected to make a security stop before flying to Yemen.
Astral has performed in excess of 300 charters for the humanitarian sector into Aden and Sanaa, using a combination of B727-200F, DC9F, CRJ200PF and Fokker 27.
He is also confident that Astral Aviation will be able to operate more charters from India in 2021 due to the high demand for medical cargo.