Safarilink, an airline connecting domestic scheduled flights to destinations within Kenya and Tanzania, and Yellow Wings Air Services, a Kenyan air operator that serves over 500 airfields throughout the East Africa region, are to upgrade their Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft with Surf Air Mobility’s proprietary electrified powertrain technology, once certified.

The two companies are pioneering the adoption of technologies necessary for a greener and quieter future in transportation, which is crucial for Kenyan wildlife, and the agreement also aligns with the Kenyan government’s recent announcement to completely move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources by 2030. Both Safarilink and Yellow Wings are already focused on sustainability and wildlife conservation efforts; however, the companies believe the move to electrified aircraft will drive sustainability even further while setting the stage for global transformation.

“We at Safarilink are committed to doing everything possible to preserve the natural beauty of the countries we operate in,” says CEO Alex Avedi. “Implementing Surf Air Mobility’s electric powertrain technology will help us reduce the noise and minimise the climate impact of our flights as we help people from all over the world to experience our region’s incredible ecosystem.”

Yellow Wings CEO Christian Strebel adds: “We strongly believe in alternative propulsion for air travel. We have always been the frontrunners in adopting new systems and innovations. Kenya, with 91 per cent carbon-free power generation, is the ideal country to spearhead this movement.”

This partnership marks another milestone as Surf Air seeks to expand its global footprint. As the exclusive partner to Textron to electrify the Caravan, it is focused on building its business in regions around the world, such as Africa, that are already significant markets for that airframe and where transportation providers are quickly adopting innovative mobility solutions. Surf Air is developing the supplemental type certification for both hybrid and fully-electric variants of the Cessna Grand Caravan.

“The Caravan is an amazing aircraft on which to develop our electrified powertrain, and we believe Safarilink’s and Yellow Wings’ operations are perfectly suited to demonstrate the benefits of our technology,” says Surf Air CEO Stan Little. “We believe Africa is at the cutting edge of regional air mobility.”

Fred Reid, global head of business development, continues: “Our goal is to deploy our proprietary electrification technology on a global scale, in addition to our own network. Upgrading Safarilink’s and Yellow Wings’ Caravan fleet with our electrified powertrains unlocks new possibilities. As air travel economics change with electrification, we believe Safarilink and Yellow Wings can improve current services, launch new viable routes and reduce environmental impact.”