Nigeria’s largest and West Africa’s leading airline, Air Peace, has received its first dry lease aircraft after a 12-year hiatus.
The Boeing 737-700NG (EI-HRN) marks the start of a six-year dry lease agreement with international leasing partners, representing a major milestone for the airline and Nigeria’s aviation sector.
While Air Peace has flown different Boeing 737 variants, previous NG models were only available through wet leasing, which involved foreign crews and limited profitability, experts say.
This latest aircraft is the first dry lease plane to be operated by fully licensed Nigerian crew, signaling greater operational control and financial efficiency.
More dry lease aircraft’s will join Air Peace’s expanding fleet over the coming months, fulfilling the terms of the long-term leasing deal.
In August, Air Peace Chairman and CEO Dr. Allen Onyema, CON, called the return of dry-leased aircraft a “game changer” for Nigeria’s aviation industry, highlighting its significance after more than a decade without such acquisitions.
Dr. Allen Onyema had in some reports maintained that “Nigerian airlines have long been unofficially blacklisted by international lessors, a stigma arising from past defaults.
This, he said, forced operators to depend on wet leases, an expensive arrangement that stifled growth.”
He added, “You cannot do operations solely on wet lease. It is extremely expensive. But my country was stigmatised, unofficially blacklisted, for accessing dry leases because of sins of the past.”
Dr. Onyema noted that the arrival of dry-leased aircraft will position Nigerian airlines more competitively against international carriers, as most major airlines worldwide rely heavily on dry lease agreements.
“That is why you see one airline in Europe or America having about 800 to 1,000 aircraft,” he explained.
He credited the new development and progress to renewed government support under President Bola Tinubu and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo, who he said, have worked to restore confidence in Nigeria’s aviation industry.
Emphasizing the significance, Onyema said the development is more than symbolic - it’s a crucial turning point that will reduce operational costs, increase fleet availability, and enable growth for Nigerian airlines both at home and abroad.
“This is going to be a game changer for all the airlines in this country,” Onyema also declared.
Recently, Air Peace launched profitable Abuja-London Heathrow flights, followed by Abuja-London Gatwick, expanding its daily UK routes to three, alongside the Lagos-Gatwick service.
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