Kenyan all-cargo airline, Astral Aviation has awarded a contract to European Cargo Services (ECS) to act as its cargo general sales agent in 15 countries in Europe, marketing the carrier’s extensive network across Africa.
The new contract covers Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Scandinavia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine. 
ECS will feed cargo into the airline’s hub in Nairobi through one of Astral Aviation’s interline partners, Qatar Airways. Qatar operates A300 freighter flights into the Kenya via Doha from Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris CDG.
In Africa, Astral Aviation operates a fleet of Antonov-12, HS-748 and Cessna Caravan cargo aircraft from its dual-hub at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Lokichoggio Airport. Its network covers Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Chad in Central Africa.
In Southern Africa, Astral’s network includes Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa and, in the Horn of Africa, its scheduled and charter services destinations include Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. It also serves Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Comoros and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
Adrien Thominet, Director of European Cargo Services, said: “This new contract highlights the advantages for an airline of working with ECS with our extensive office network across Europe as well as our increasingly strong position in the Europe-Africa market where we already have a client base of leading airlines. Astral Aviation’s all-cargo operations serving all major points throughout Africa will be extremely appealing to freight forwarders in Europe and will allow ECS to also look at synergies with its other airline customers in the region.”