Consultancy that is hands on
Fractional supply chain and technical operations support for African airlines.
Zalabo Aviation Services is a hands-on consultancy for airline maintenance and technical operations. We find where AOG exposure, component cost and turnaround time are draining your operation. Then we stay and run the shared services that fix it, working as an extension of your own Technical Operations department.
Where the aircraft time goes
West African airlines work in one of commercial aviation’s hardest supply environments, usually with the leanest engineering teams. A small fleet still carries a large fleet’s problems. We start inside your operation, find each leak, and answer it with a service we run ourselves.
AOG exposure
An aircraft on the ground loses revenue every hour and puts the schedule at risk. When a part fails, a small fleet has no bench of serviceable spares to fall back on.
Availability
Pooled access to serviceable rotables and components across our client base, a structured AOG response and tight turnaround control. A failed part becomes a logistics task, not a grounded aircraft.
The product is a 10-day turnaround.
Slow component sourcing
Parts are bought one urgent order at a time, at spot prices, from distant suppliers with long lead times, and with no leverage at the table.
Orchestrated purchasing
We combine demand across our clients and take it to suppliers as one book of business: buying power no small fleet has on its own.
Currency and settlement friction
Parts are priced in hard currency; revenue comes in naira. Every exchange-rate swing between order and payment turns the maintenance budget into a guess.
FX-hedged settlement
Planning in naira with hedged settlement, so parts costs stop chasing the exchange rate and the maintenance budget holds for the whole year.
Records, repairs and compliance load
Technical records, airworthiness paperwork and compliance work never stop, and they fall on the same small team that keeps the aircraft flying.
Execution
Repairs and exchanges managed end to end, with consolidated AOG logistics, customs coordination and records support. One accountable channel from removal to return to service.
We work as an extension of your Technical Operations department
A report on a shelf fixes nothing. When the diagnostic is done, we stay and operate. You get the sourcing, repair, logistics and settlement capacity of a large engineering organisation, in the fraction your fleet actually needs.
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One pool, many operators
Client airlines pool their demand and serviceable material through us, so each one draws on a deeper bench than it could hold alone.
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Your parts stay yours
The pool is consignment-first. You keep title to your own parts throughout; Zalabo Aviation Services administers the pool.
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The pooling framework, handled
We manage your participation in the IATP pooling framework alongside the daily running of the shared pool.
Judged on the savings we deliver
A general consultancy bills for its thinking. We ask to be measured on the savings we deliver, against your airline’s own baseline. Every engagement follows the same three steps.
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Step one
Paid diagnostic
A defined piece of real work on your own fleet’s data. The case for going further is proven with evidence before you commit to more.
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Step two
Monthly retainer
Availability, execution, orchestrated purchasing and FX-hedged settlement, run for you as a standing operation.
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Step three
Success fee on verified savings
Payable only on audited, verified savings against your own baseline.
No measurable savings, no success fee.
The fleet is already here
West Africa’s active fleet is concentrated enough to make pooled supply work, and split across enough operators that no small fleet reaches efficient scale on its own. Shared fleet types deepen the pool. The Embraer ERJ-145, flown across the region, is a headline pooling type: one set of shared rotables can cover several operators at once.
Hands-on consulting and shared services
Diagnostics and the four shared services, for airlines in Lagos and across West Africa.
The Extension Lab, Lagos
Component repair on lean test and repair benches. This is a planned capability, not a service we offer today. It will be built on the demand our consulting work proves.
Who we are
Zalabo Aviation Services is a founder-led consultancy for airline maintenance and technical operations, focused on Lagos and West Africa. We are not a general advisory firm: we diagnose, then we operate what we recommend. Our aim is to give the region’s airlines the supply chain and technical operations depth that large carriers build in-house, delivered fractionally and measured on the savings and availability it produces.
Start with a conversation about your fleet
Tell us about your fleet, your AOG exposure and where your supply chain is costing you aircraft time. Every engagement starts there. Reach us through our LinkedIn company page.
Message us on LinkedIn