Our story starts with a cadet.
1970
Wings first.
Aslam Khan joins the Kenya Air Force as a cadet pilot and earns his wings the next year, flying Chipmunks, Beavers and Caribous.
He later flies tourists to game lodges from Mombasa, then airliners for East African Airways and Kenya Airways: the Fokker Friendship, the DC-9, the Boeing 707 and the Airbus.
1985
One aircraft, one pilot.
ALS starts flying with a single Cessna 150, leased to a flying school.
Since then
1990s
From pistons to turbines.
ALS moves from piston aircraft to turboprops: Beechcraft 1900s, Caravans, King Airs and then Dash 8s, flying relief contracts. Arshad Khan, a director since the company was formed, takes type courses on the 1900, the King Air and the Caravan in 1997 and becomes Technical Director in 1999.
1999
An apprentice in the hangar.
Amardeep Saund joins as an apprentice engineer. He’ll later be Chief Pilot, then Head of Operations.
2003
A head of safety.
Nilesh Somaia, an ALS pilot, becomes Head of Safety. He’ll later manage the IOSA audit.
2004
A new PPL in the ops room.
Shakeel Khan joins the operations department with a private pilot licence earned the same year. He becomes CEO.
2011
First in Africa.
ALS passes IATA’s Operational Safety Audit, the first general aviation company in Africa to do so and one of 24 operators from the continent at the time.
2024
Cadets.
ALS launches its ab-initio cadet programme: five phases from no experience to First Officer.
2025
Forty, and a flight school.
ALS turns 40. In April the KCAA approves ALS Flight Training as a training organisation.
2026
Intensive care.
The Embraer air ambulance service flies from Wilson Airport.