Episode 44: Africa’s challenges to distribute Covid vaccine

With encouraging news around the world regarding approvals of different Covid-19 vaccines, attention swings to distribution of the vital cargo.The UAE has already developed airside warehousing to act to as a hub for the distribution. But what about Africa?We talk to Sanjeev Ghadia, the CEO of Africa’s largest cargo carrier, Astral Aviation and the chair of AFRAA’s cargo committee and vice chair of industry body TIACA, about the situation across the continent.Astral has been one of the few airlines in the world to have seen positive growth during the pandemic and Ghadia also explains why he believes Africa’s airlines need to pay attention to the cargo markets as a pathway to growth and recovery and beyond.In the programme we also talk to Rolls-Royce head of aftermarket technology, Dr Ian Mitchell about a new approach with technology to keep next-gen engines performing. The innovation could have an impact on the MRO industry and Chuck Grieve finds out why.This plus all the region’s aerospace news from the Times Aerospace newsdesk.