Nigeria’s flag carrier, Air Peace, has agreed to dry-lease four Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Slovak carrier AirExplore to meet the high travel demand during the Yuletide period, The PUNCH can authoritatively report.

A dry lease in aviation is an agreement where an aircraft is leased without crew, maintenance, or insurance. Dry leasing is a cost-effective option for operators who can manage the aircraft independently.

It was gathered that the four aircraft were specifically sought by the country’s flag carrier to run domestic operations alone during the Christmas and New Year rush operations.

According to the agreement, details of which were provided to The PUNCH by an insider in the airline, the dry-leasing arrangement will see AirExplore, a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group, supply pilots for the aircraft, while Air Peace will provide cabin crew who are currently on a training programme for the task.

A statement, sighted by our correspondent signed by the Head of Corporate Communications of the airline, Ejike Ndiulo, confirmed the development, describing it as a unique setup that would allow Air Peace to maintain its high standards of customer service while leveraging AirExplore’s operational expertise.

“Passengers can expect efficient and familiar service onboard, in line with Air Peace’s established reputation,” he added.

The PUNCH gathered that the airline currently has in its fleet seven Boeing 737-300s, four Boeing 737-500s, a Boeing 777-200ER, two Boeing 777-300s, eight Embraer E145s, five Embraer E195-E2s, and an executive Dornier 328-300.

The PUNCH gathered that the latest collaboration with AirExplore is not the first between Air Peace and ASG’s ACMI/charter specialist.

The source at the airline further hinted that between 2021 and 2023, Air Peace dry-leased two Airbus A320-200s from SmartLynx Airlines Malta, another member of ASG.

The source said, “We may not say this officially but we are getting four aircraft on a dry-lease agreement, this is certainly to meet the increased passengers that we would be experiencing during the festive period.

“You know we do not only pride ourselves as the largest in the country, we also always want to meet up with our increasing number of passengers.”

Meanwhile, our correspondent also gathered that the airline recently secured two wet-leased Boeing 737-700.