Astral Aviation (8V, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) will wet-lease a B747-400F from US-based ACMI specialists Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK). The aircraft is set to commence operations in the coming weeks and will supplement Astral's current fleet of two DC-9-30(F)s used to ply its regional African network. With hubs in Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, Accra and Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta, CEO Sanjeev Gadhia, says the B747-400(F) was chosen owing to the high demand for perishable exports out of its Nairobi hub combined with the return loads of oil and gas equipment into West Africa. Astral Aviation operates in partnership with UK-based ANA Airline Management Limited. Rival Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) has two ex-Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg) B747-400(F)s, msn 24200 & 24619, on order for its own freight division, Kenya Airways Cargo.