Astral Aviation inks interline agreement with SpiceXpress to boost freight traffic between Africa, India

• SpiceXpress will send shipments to Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Juba, Mwanza, Mogadishu, Pemba, Zanzibar, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Hargeisa, and Lusaka.

February 01, 2021: Astral Aviation and India's SpiceXpress, the air cargo arm of Spicejet, have signed a interline agreement connecting the networks of the two companies. This new partnership will give a major boost to cargo traffic between the Indian sub-continent and Africa, giving the option of more affordable channels of moving shipments which will include general cargo, courier and pharmaceuticals through the two airlines' networks.

Recently, in Cargo MasterMinds, an interview series by the STAT Media Group, Astral Aviation CEO, Sanjeev Gadhia announced this news. In the conversation series, he noted, "We are the only airline in Africa with a highest number of interline partnerships because we believe in the spirit of co-operation. The airline-to-airline partnership is very essential for the growth of Nairobi hub and for the African continent."

Gadhia, said, "Thanks to this interline agreement, there will be easier trade between India and Africa allowing movement of commodities at much more competitive rates in the respective markets as well as providing more scheduled frequencies of flights to the benefit of our customers and traders."

Astral Aviation is expanding its network to India, where the African airline will have services to and from the Indian cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Delhi to connect shipments through its Middle Eastern Hub of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates and there after onwards into Nairobi and the rest of Africa.

Similarly, SpiceXpress will build and expand its access to Africa by sending shipments to the African destinations of Dar es Salaam - Tanzania, Entebbe-Uganda, Juba-South Sudan, Mwanza-Tanzania, Mogadishu-Somalia, Pemba-Mozambique, Zanzibar-Tanzania, Nairobi-Kenya, Johannesburg-South Africa, Hargeisa-Somalia and Lusaka-Zambia.

The CEO of SpiceXpress, Sanjiv Gupta, said, "This inter-line agreement will strengthen the trade lanes between the two continents and provide much faster and seamless logistics solutions. It will help SpiceXpress build its African network and ensure SpiceXpress' presence in the high growth African continent."