ALS stands for Aircraft Leasing Services. It still does.
The name was the business plan. Forty years on, leasing aircraft with their crews is still about 90% of what we do.
The short version
ALS is a Kenyan airline based at Wilson Airport, Nairobi. It began in 1985 with one Cessna 150 and one pilot. Today it leases aircraft with crews, maintenance and insurance to the UN, the Red Cross, airlines and energy companies across Africa and the Middle East. It also flies air ambulances and charters, maintains other operators’ aircraft, and trains new pilots in its own school.
- 1985
First aircraft: a Cessna 150
- 390+
People
- 105
Pilots
- 34
Aircraft, nine types
Where we are
Wilson Airport, Nairobi
Head office, operations, the hangar and workshops, the ALS Terminal and the flight school.
Orly Airpark, Kajiado
50 km south, where sport and training flying goes to get out of Wilson’s traffic. See below
Everywhere else
Our aircraft and crews, on contract from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan.
The ALS group
Heliservices.
Helicopter ACMI and charter, operating aircraft on behalf of their owners. A subsidiary of ALS. Helicopters
Scenic Air Safaris.
Guided flying safaris and private charters across East and southern Africa, in executive-configured Grand Caravans.
Connoisseur Aviation.
Aircraft financing and leasing, based in Nairobi. An associated company.
Fly ALS.
Our scheduled flights to the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo. flyals.com (opens in a new tab)
What we believe
We have five values. In practice they come down to this:
- 01
Safety.
Our motto is “Do it right the first time.” Everyone, from the chairman to the newest apprentice, owns a piece of it.
- 02
Training.
We’d rather grow our own. Several of our directors started in junior roles here.
- 03
Teamwork.
A crew on a remote contract has only each other. We hire for that.
- 04
Integrity.
Our clients audit us, often. We’d rather they found nothing.
- 05
Standards.
We hold the approvals, pass the audits and publish the numbers. Safety & Approvals
Orly Airpark
Room to fly, 50 km from Wilson.
Wilson Airport is one of the busiest in Africa for light aircraft. So our chairman, Captain Aslam Khan, and fellow members of the Aero Club of East Africa bought 240 acres off the Kiserian–Isinya road in Kajiado and built an airfield for everything that doesn’t need to be at Wilson: sport flying, skydiving, microlights, gyrocopters and flight training. Orly Airpark has two runways, one partly paved and one grass, fifteen hangars, seven members’ cottages and a lounge.
Giving back
Motorsport runs in the family. So does the medevac.
Our chairman and technical director have driven the East African Classic Safari Rally together. ALS has also flown helicopters as the medical evacuation cover for that rally and for the Kenya National Rally Championship, free of charge.