Astral Aviation is looking at a future where drones would be utilized to transport cargo to Africa’s most remote and dangerous areas.

Sanjeev Gadhia, founder and chief executive of Astral Aviation, said the Kenya-based cargo airline has big plans in Africa, but most notably is the carrier’s goal to deliver cargo through drones as he noted logistic pains in the continent to reach the most isolated and underserved.

“Africa is a difficult place. We have 54 countries, different regulations, different languages. It’s been difficult, but it’s been a great journey, and of course we have some big plans for Africa,” Gadhia told a recent forum in Miami.

“The one [plan] which is really unique is when we’ll start flying cargo on drones in Africa, totally unmanned,” he said.

“This is something that we were looking forward to having: a fleet of drones flying within the same airspace, within the same fleet network that we will also be having with commercial aircraft,” he added.

Gadhia noted, in particular, that drone delivery would be most useful in moving cargo to some of the most dangerous areas of the continent.

“We do a lot of work for the United Nations [and], we’re flying to some countries which are really dangerous; where there could be safety problems for our crew, and so this is where we’re looking at operating the larger cargo drones,” Gadhia said.

Gadhia told the conference that Astral Aviation is already collaborating with “about five” drone manufacturers, three of which are based in the United States.

“This is not going to happen this year or next year, but we see a future where we will be able to fly drones to many remote locations in Africa and actually help to bring transit delivery times from weeks, sometimes months, to a few days,” he added, pointing out that the plan would be a “game changer” for cargo transport in Africa.

Meanwhile, the Astral Aviation chief noted that the cargo airline would be adopting some concepts already implemented by Flexport in the United States.

Flexport focuses on supply chain management and logistics, trade financing, insurance, freight forwarding, and customs brokerage.

“If you look at the Flexport model, this is the model which is very new, it’s a disruptive model, and I see that as the years go by, many airlines also adopting part of the Flexport model, and I believe this is also something that we are also looking at especially in Africa where we have different layers, different intermediaries,” Gadhia said.

Gadhia also pointed out that air cargo operators offering end-to-end logistics makes sense.

“The opportunity for an airline to also provide ground services – road transport, last-mile delivery – is something that could actually be done by an airline. It’s not rocket science,” Gadhia added. “If you have the right technology, if you have the right human resources, and of course, the right infrastructure, this is what we lack in Africa, then you could probably offer an end-to-end service.

“It does not have to be done by a middle man it could be done by the airline – and we are definitely looking at the Flexport model and what they’re trying to do in the United States, and we hope that we could actually be able to do something [like that] in a couple years,” Gadhia said.

Meanwhile, the Astral Aviation chief pointed out some of the challenges for airlines and cargo operators in Africa, which hinder further expansion of the aviation sector in the region, including exorbitant taxes.

“I believe [there’s] the issue of high costs, also like the other countries in other parts of the world, but if we look at the African perspective here, we have 50 different types of taxes. And these taxes, some of them are too ridiculous to [even] bring up to a public forum,” Gadhia said.

“But if I were to look at pressing government [action], it’s basically to bring down the cost of business,” he added. “To bring down the cost of some of these taxes so that you can actually have a conducive business environment.”

Gadhia explained that when “you bring down taxes, the net result will be that you’ll actually have more volume, and these volumes would actually take care of any of the tax shortfalls.”

“In Africa, we’ve actually noticed that governments look at the aviation sector as a very high social tax, and that’s the reason why the African aviation industry just collapsed – you only have three airlines which are profitable. On the cargo side, if you look at the continent, such a big [continent], you only have four cargo airlines,” Gadhia said.

“But if taxes can come down, more players will be coming in, prompting growth. You’ll have a situation where the consumer actually can pay less for commodities transport.”

“I really believe that we need to bring some of these taxes down, and to simplify the whole process of actually having a conducive business environment where some of these taxes could either be reduced or eliminated completely. Then, we would actually see positive growth in Africa.”

By Charlee C. Delavin

Asia Cargo News | Hong Kong