Surf Air Mobility, Kenyan Carriers Partner On Caravan Electrification

Surf Air Mobility has announced a new partnership with Kenyan carriers Safarilink and Yellow Wings to electrify their Cessna Caravan fleets by 2027.

Founded in 2020, Surf Air finalized an agreement with Textron last summer to serve as the exclusive provider of electric and hybrid-electric powertrains for the Cessna Caravan, which the startup promises will deliver 25% and 50% reductions in operating costs, respectively, compared to the conventional turboprop.

The latest agreements were signed with Safarilink, which provides connecting domestic flights across Kenya and Tanzania, and Yellow Wings, a privately owned charter operator that caters to tourists and business travelers in East Africa.

The companies did not disclose the precise number of aircraft covered under the deal, but Aviation Week fleet data shows that Safarilink operates eight Caravans–two of which are currently parked–while Yellow Wings operates a fleet of four Caravans.

The agreements resemble a similar deal announced between Surf Air and Azul Conecta, the regional airline subsidiary of Brazilian carrier Azul, to electrify that carrier’s Caravans. The latest agreements bring the startup’s total backlog to 41 powertrains, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas, who estimates in a report the company will convert 28 Caravans in 2026 and 318 aircraft in 2027.

With help from engineering partner Aerotec, Surf Air is targeting early 2026 for FAA supplemental type certification of the electric powertrains, with the hybrid variant expected sometime later.

“The Caravan is an amazing aircraft on which to develop our electrified powertrain, and we believe Safarilink and Yellow Wings’ operations are perfectly suited to demonstrate the benefits of our technology,” Surf Air CEO Stan Little said in a statement. “We believe Africa is at the cutting edge of regional air mobility. Surf Air is excited to work with innovative, pioneering companies like Safarilink and Yellow Wings.”

Speaking to the AAM Report after signing the Azul agreement in November, Little said he expects to deploy a large number of powertrains outside the U.S., including in developing regions like Africa, reflecting the large base of Caravans operating in the global fleet.

“Africa is such a heavy-utilization continent for the Caravan, and we see big opportunities in places like Kenya or Tanzania,” Little said at the time.

“In Kenya, in particular, we see operators who fly from Point A to Point A [out and back], which is really ideal because we’ve only got to have one place where the plane gets charged if it returns home after each flight,” he added in a likely reference to tourism operator Safarilink.

Little said that Surf Air has been making the pitch to potential customers around the world that the cost of converting their Caravans to electric propulsion is comparable to the cost of overhauling the combustion engine. Factoring in the operating cost savings, he describes the decision as a “no brainer” for many operators.

“We’re targeting customers that have short and frequent routes who operate in countries that are very supportive of green aviation,” Little says. “We are getting near-unanimity from the customers with whom we’ve spoken to at this point. When you break down the savings, you don’t really find anybody that says, ‘No thank you, I’m not interested.’”