Air Bonanza Express Boosts Capacity with New IL-76 Freighter

African charter service provider Air Bonanza Express has added a second leased IL-76 freighter and hopes to deploy larger aircraft in the future.

The IL-76TD will be used for oversized consolidation cargo from Dubai and Sharjah to various African countries.

“As opposed to the prohibitive full aircraft chartering, our customers will now have options to airlift their oversized cargo affordably and efficiently,” said chief executive Boniface Kimani.

“This business model is one that recognises that customers have different needs and budgets. We are here for them with the aim of cutting down their cost of transportation of oversized cargo.

“Commercially, this will unlock the market and create a positive ripple effect in the supply chain and more African customers will be able to transport more goods regularly.”

Kimani said that the company would accept all types of oversized cargo with a minimum weight of five tons per customer.

“[The] IL-76 freighter is very suitable for abnormal sized cargo like oil and minerals mining equipment, military equipment, industrial and manufacturing equipment, aircraft engines and helicopters, humanitarian cargo and many more,” he said.

“In a nutshell, and from where we sit, we don’t see a decline in demand but a lack of an alternative solution that matches the need for the oversized cargo in the African market and we hope to bridge that gap.”

Kimani added that in the near future the company hopes to deploy a larger aircraft like the AN-124 to cope with demand and ultimately cover more regions like Europe and the Far East to Africa.

Last year, the company announced that it would relocate its IL-76 aircraft to Accra to cater for demand from the UN.

The charter firm took delivery of the leased IL-76 in early 2023 and initially based the aircraft in Kenya and South Sudan as it looked to cater for demand in east Africa.