Air Peace has signed an agreement with Latvia’s SmartLynx Airlines to wet lease two Airbus A320s. According to a statement released by SmartLynx Airlines on November 24, West Africa’s largest airline Air Peace will lease the two aircraft until May 11, 2022.
SmartLynx will operate two A320s for Air Peace until May 2022. The agreement sees the return of SmartLynx to Nigeria, a region it has been successfully operating in since 2007. In its statement, SmartLynx says the move demonstrates the Latvian airline’s commitment to expanding its client portfolio into new markets.
SmartLynx says that it is incredibly proud of its ongoing business strategy and long-term partnerships with industry leaders for more than 30 years. It says that these relationships with other airlines offer proof of its relationship commitment and that it is a dependable partner. When speaking about the new agreement with Air Peace and the overall situation in the aviation industry in its statement SmartLynx Airlines VP of Sales and Development, Edvinas Demenius, said:
“While the pandemic has sadly taken its toll on many businesses, our strategy has been focused on the expansion of our valued client portfolio. The introduction of the Nigerian airline, Air Peace, the biggest airline in Western Africa, comes as an integral part of that focus on client growth and the company’s expansion into dynamic new markets.”
“The aviation industry is slowly recovering in the wake of a global pandemic, and SmartLynx are dedicated to supporting that growth in travel demand in any way we can. Another important commitment for us, and one which is backed up by our signing of the EASA Covid Charter, is to maintain and continuously improve safer flying methods. There have been challenging times in the past 20 months, but with the acquisition of new clients like Air Peace, there are clear signs of a brighter future for SmartLynx and the entire aviation industry.”
The Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide expressed satisfaction at the development saying that, “We are happy to have entered into the 6-month damp-lease agreement with SmartLynx, and we believe this will open up more layers of business relationship with them. We are damp-leasing two A320s to meet the growing travel demand in the Nigerian and larger West African markets while we expect to take delivery of more Embraer 195-E2 airplanes. Air Peace is committed to reducing the air travel burden of Nigerians, and this deal with SmartLynx is a testament to this commitment. The two A320s will be deployed to boost both domestic and regional connectivity for our esteemed customers, as the Yuletide draws near.”