Astral suspends all humanitarian flights to Sanaa and Port Sudan
Astral is still operating to Aden International Airport in Yemen.
The Nairobi-based African all-cargo airline Astral Aviation has suspended all humanitarian flights to Sanaa International Airport in Yemen and Port Sudan New International Airport.
The airline has operated more than 300 flights to Sanaa since 2015 and until March 2025, and more than 100 flights to Port Sudan since mid-2023. Astral is still operating to Aden International Airport in Yemen.
Astral has been the lifeline for humanitarian cargoes into Sanaa and Port Sudan, and the suspension will affect the delivery of relief and humanitarian goods into two of the worst-affected regions in the world. The airline operates a fleet of one B737 and two 767 freighters.
Sanaa International Airport is now temporarily shut after the Israeli military bombed the airport in Yemen on Tuesday (May 6, 2025). The airport has been an important lifeline for humanitarian aid and the transport of relief workers to the country.
On the same day, drone attacks rocked the Port Sudan New International Airport, which led to the grounding of all flights at the main international airport of the war-torn country.
“Our humanitarian colleagues said they’re deeply concerned by the intensifying drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan, in the east of the country,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General during the press briefing on Wednesday.
“While no UN personnel or facilities were directly affected by the strikes, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the latest violence poses a growing risk to the safety of humanitarian staff and operations, with flights of the UN Humanitarian Air Service both to and from Port Sudan still on hold,” he added.
Astral Aviation has been a partner for World Food Programme (WFP) and began carrying cargo for WFP missions from 1999, the year the airline was founded. Astral has been flying into some of the most difficult and unsecure airports in the world that include airports in conflict zones and into countries under serious civil unrest.
