Astral Aviation has signed its first formal partnership agreement (MOU) with disaster response nonprofit Airlink. In the agreement, Astral Aviation promises to transport 50 tons of humanitarian aid over the next year.
Airlink will utilize the cargo space to support the movement of humanitarian aid across Astral Aviation’s network, already leveraging this partnership in order to support a shipment of medicines and medical supplies to South Sudan. The supplies were donated by Airlink’s NGO partner, Partners for World Health, to an additional member of Airlink’s network, IMA World Health, and will be distributed in flood-affected regions in the Great Upper Nile region, as well as in health facilities along South Sudan’s border with Uganda.
Astral Aviation operates a network that connects East Africa to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe via hubs in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Dubai. The agreement will enable nonprofit Airlink to support humanitarian relief efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“As Astral Aviation we see the partnership with Airlink as an important opportunity to support some of the humanitarian efforts in the sub-Saharan region so as to help alleviate the suffering on some of the war-ravaged and disaster-stricken population,” said Mr. Sanjeev Gadhia, the CEO of Astral Aviation Limited.
“The humanitarian nonprofit community is under huge resource pressures stemming from COVID responses, the war in Ukraine, inflation, and economic downturns. Airline commitments like the one Astral Aviation is making allow Airlink and our nonprofit partners to react to immediate needs. It also enables us to support communities with long-term recovery and systemic issues, such as in healthcare,” said Steven J. Smith, President, and CEO of Airlink.
Nonprofit Airlink builds partnerships with aviation sector businesses, like Astral Aviation, to provide free air transport and logistical coordination to a network of 150 humanitarian relief and disaster response nonprofits. Since 2010, Airlink has saved its nonprofit partners over $12 million in air transport costs, resources which these nonprofit network partners could redirect to buying humanitarian aid and funding service delivery.
In 2022, Airlink responded to more than 40 emergencies, providing transport for 1,300 skilled responders, and over 1,400 tons of humanitarian aid. The aid they transported reached more than 12.5 million people.
