Astral Aviation
Astral Aviation is a cargo airline based in Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in November 2000 and started operations in January 2001. It operates scheduled and non-scheduled/ad-hoc cargo charters, as well as humanitarian-aid flights, to regional destinations in Africa, Asia and to Liège in Belgium as its only European destination, as of 2023. Its main base is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. It has one subsidiary operating in India since October 2022, Pradhaan Air Express, which leased an Airbus A320P2F cargo aircraft, thus making it the world's first airline to have such an aircraft in its fleet.
History
Founded in November 2000, Astral Aviation acquired its Air Operators Certificate and Air Service License from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority in January 2001, thus it started operations in the same year in the same month. It was designated as a cargo airline by the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Public Works in November 2006.Services
The airline operates through and non-stop to 25 regular destinations and 5 charter destinations used for charter operations like food, electronics and medical transport, etc. as well as humanitarian support.It has one subsidiary operating in India based in New Delhi, Pradhaan Air Express, since October 2022. Two more subsidiaries are planned to be launched, taking the number to three subsidiaries by 2025. Its second subsidiary will be Suid [Cargo Airlines] based in Johannesburg, which will operate to more than 20 destinations in Southern and Eastern Africa, is expected to be launched by September 2023. Its third subsidiary will be an airline to be launched in 2025, based in Europe.
Destinations
Astral shows the following scheduled and charter destinations in their 2023 online timetable and announcements.Fleet
Current fleet
, Astral Aviation operates the following aircraft:| Aircraft | In fleet | Orders | Notes |
| Boeing 737-400SF | 1 | — | |
| Boeing 767-200BDSF | 1 | — | |
| Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF) | 1 | — | 5Y-SVR |
| Embraer 190F | — | 2 | Deliveries expected by 2025. |
| Total | 3 | 2 |
Former fleet
The airline previously operated the following aircraft :- 1 Boeing 727-200F
- 2 Boeing 737-400F
- 2 Boeing 747-400F, leased from Atlas Air
- 1 Fokker 27-500F, leased from AeroSpace Consortium
- 1 Fokker 27F
- 1 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30CF