Astral delivers vaccines to Aden; resumes flight to Port Sudan

The African all-cargo airline Astral Aviation carried 12.5 tonnes of humanitarian cargo, including 9.5 tonnes of life-saving vaccines, on a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)-chartered B737-400F to Aden International Airport in Yemen from the airline's hub in Nairobi on May 11, 2025.

“These routine vaccines will help protect children from polio, measles & other deadly diseases,” says UNICEF Yemen on X.

Meanwhile, Astral’s operations to Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport remain suspended. The airline has operated more than 300 flights to Sanaa since 2015 and until March 2025. Sanaa Airport was temporarily shut after the Israeli military bombed the airport in Yemen on May 6, 2025.

The airline has also resumed humanitarian flights to Port Sudan New International Airport today (May 15, 2025), Astral’s Chief Executive Officer, Sanjeev Gadhia confirmed. Last week, a drone attack rocked the Port Sudan Airport, which led to the grounding of all flights at the main international airport of the war-torn country.

Astral Aviation operates a fleet of one B737 and two 767 freighters.