Pandemic is a wakeup call for African aviation, says Astral’s Sanjeev Gadhia

November 10, 2020: At the 52nd annual general assembly (AGA) of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO and founder of Astral Aviation stated that the pandemic is a wakeup call for African aviation sector as it lacks infrastructure. Gadhia is also the vice-chairman of AFRAA Cargo Task Force.

The session themed as 'Air cargo: A Key Contributor to Sustainability of the Air Transport Industry' was moderated by Reji John, Editor of Logistics Update Africa. 

"The impact of the crisis has brought significant changes in the last eight months in the sector. We had been witnessing an increase in the e-commerce demand to Lagos, Nairobi, and Accra. As the pandemic is going to stay for a while, there will be a sharp rise in e-commerce shipments. For this, there must be sufficient investment made in capacity building and human resources."

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Highlighting on the Covid-19 vaccine logistics, he observed, "As of now, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Addis Ababa are the only transhipment hubs to handle potential Covid-19 vaccines which will come into Africa. We need to concentrate more on building the infrastructure related to this by introducing advanced packaging to avoid temperature-excursions during transportation."

Meanwhile, he concluded by speaking on drones to be used in the transportation of vaccines to remote areas.