Babawande Afolabi - Afrikan Heroes

Green Africa Airways To Start Selling Tickets Next Week

May 24, 2021

Babawande Afolabi, founder of and CEO at Green Africa Airways

Nigeria’s newest entrant in the domestic aviation sector Green Africa Airways will begin selling tickets from 25th May. The airline plans to begin operations on June 24th, serving several domestic destinations from its base in Lagos. Travelers booking early on with the airline will receive discounted tickets as well. This is an exciting step for any startup airline, but for Green Africa, it has been a step in the making for over six years. The carrier has ordered aircraft, put together a leadership team, and included industry leaders on its board of directors.

As earlier reported, Green Africa Airways will begin operations with six domestic routes. These will all be from Lagos and are: Akure, Ilorin, Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, and Port Harcourt and commence on June 24th. The carrier will slowly scale up operations as it receives more aircraft in the coming months and over the year.

Green Africa calls its customers ‘gFlyers’ and is offering them discounts for being early passengers. Travelers booking on the airline’s website will receive a 10% discount on all fare classes to celebrate the airline’s launch. The three fare classes are: gSaver, gClassic, and gFlex.

To run its operations, the airline has taken delivery of two ATR 72-600s registered 5N-GAA and 5N-GAE. Both aircraft seat 70 passengers in an all-economy, 2-2 layout. Both planes have been leased from ACIA Aero, with one more coming in the near future (5N-GAD).

However, Green Africa does not plan to be a regional carrier. Instead, the airline is gearing up to take the Airbus A220s in the future. The carrier has ordered 50 A220-300s, the largest Airbus order by any African airline, and previously planned to even lease three A220s from lessors to start operations.

However, with the ATRs secured, their A220s could be in tow as well. The airline is yet to firm up its order with Airbus, a critical step to establishing a delivery schedule. For now, expect to see the ATRs being the only aircraft in the fleet for a few months.

In a statement about the ticket sales, Founder and CEO Babawande Afolabi said,

“This is a pivotal milestone on this journey, and we are delighted that the Green Africa vision is becoming a reality. We look forward to serving our customer and building Green Africa at scale.”

The coming months will see Green Africa slowly expand further into Nigeria and the rest of Africa. The timing of this will depend on when the carrier can add more aircraft to its fleet and which planes it will add. For now, keep an eye out for this budding African airline with high ambitions.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Green Africa Airways Announces its Initial Network

May 13, 2021

Nigeria’s newest entrant in the aviation market, Green Africa Airways has revealed its first routes as it edges closer to flying its first paying passengers. Green Africa Airways has been a few years in the making. However, with planes on the ground and the airline in advanced negotiations to secure the all-important air operator’s certificate, the signs are promising.

In a statement released by the airline, it says it will start flying from Lagos to the Akure, Ilorin, Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, and Port Harcourt. The statement says further destinations will get added as the airline scales up its operations. But already, plans are underway to establish a couple of bases outside Lagos.

“Starting with our launch route network, we are crafting a network plan that will afford more customers the opportunity to pursue their economic interest or simply spend more time with family and friends,” says Babawande Afolabi, founder of and CEO at Green Africa Airways.

Nigeria is awash with potential airline CEOs dreaming of starting up their own airline. Often the would-be airline never gets beyond a LinkedIn page. But Green Africa Airways is no watery pipedream. With an ivy league MBA under his belt, Babawande Afolabi has worked at Morgan Stanley and American Airlines. He has been putting Green Africa Airways together since 2013.

So far, Green Africa Airways has received its air transport license from the Nigerian Government, and the air operator’s certificate is in the pipeline. According to its statement, Green Africa Airways will offer “safe, reliable and affordable air travel to a much broader group of customers and be a significant contributor to the economic development of Nigeria and the African continent.”

Funding comes from New York-based Kuramo Capital, an African-focused investment outfit with offices in Kenya, Nigeria. In 2018, Kuramo successfully raised Series A funding for Green Africa Airways. Series A funding refers to the first round of capital raising for a new business. Series A funding can be hard to secure.

While not disclosing how much money was raised, Kuramo noted the success in raising funds attested to the strength of the Green Africa Airways business case and the potential sharp-eyed institutional investors could see in it.

The airline presently has one plane, an ATR-72-600 leased from ACIA Aero Leasing. That plane is on the ground in Lagos and dressed in Green Africa Airways livery. The ATR’s registration is 5N-GAE. The aircraft is eight years old and has previously flown for Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras and Solenta Aviation. Green Africa Airways expects two more ATR 72s soon. They are 5N-GAA and 5N-GAD.

Global airline lessor ACIA Aero Leasing certainly has some faith in Green Africa Airways and the potential of African aviation in general. When handing over the first ATR 72, Mick Mooney, CEO at ACIA Aero Leasing, praised Green Africa’s “strategic roadmap,” saying the startup airline offered “effective solutions that the current market opportunity brings.”

“We at ACIA are pleased to provide Green Africa with the first set of aircraft to launch its commercial operations, starting with Nigeria and eventually, the broader African continent,” Mr Mooney said.

“This region presents significant opportunities, and these will be greater, post-pandemic. As many of our operators in Africa run domestic flights, its impact has been felt less when compared to others relying on cross-border travel to support their business models.”

While Green Africa Airways is not quite there yet, it is moving closer to taking flight. Even so, it is good to see a Nigerian airline taking the leap from imagination to reality.