Air Peace has released a clarification stating clearly that it does not plan to detain any aircraft belonging to Lessors in Nigeria or elsewhere.

The airline explained that its current challenges with the group of Smartlynx Airlines Malta Limited, SIA Smartlynx Airlines, and Smartlynx Estonia OU (collectively known as “Smartlynx”) arise from damp lease agreements involving four aircraft.

Air Peace has alleged that during these transactions, Smartlynx intentionally deceived it out of several million dollars.

The airline pointed out that this financial setback is in addition to the significant disruptions to its scheduled operations during a busy season, which caused immense reputational and operational harm to the airline.

Air Peace provided a thorough description of the alleged fraud, asserting: “Throughout the lease operations, Smartlynx intentionally defrauded Air Peace and unlawfully acquired several advance payments on the basis that it would fulfill the agreed block hours.”

Air Peace further detailed the supposed intent, claiming: “Smartlynx fully understood—months prior to receiving these payments—that it had no intention of fulfilling the prepaid block hours, yet it persisted in requesting and accepting payments from Air Peace under false claims.”

As of the date of the press release, the airline indicated that its total losses amount to USD 38,042,843.84 (Thirty-eight million, forty-two thousand, eight hundred and forty-three dollars and eighty-four cents). This serious situation has ultimately led to the commencement of legal proceedings against Smartlynx, and the airline added: “On 12 November 2025, the court issued an order against Smartlynx.”

BusinessDay had earlier reported that Air Peace faced a number of operational disruptions, leading to flight delays and cancellations after its key lessor, SmartLynx Airlines, unlawfully removed three of its aircraft from the Air Peace fleet. Nowel Ngala, the Chief Commercial Officer of Air Peace, explained that his company entered into a wet-lease agreement with Smartlynx because 13 of its aircraft were undergoing scheduled maintenance in other countries. “To prevent service gaps and ensure that Nigerians could continue to travel easily, Air Peace leased aircraft from Smartlynx in an effort to support Nigerian passengers during peak travel periods,” Ngala said.

He further clarified that the disruptions were a result of the sudden and unjustified withdrawal of four aircraft we wet-leased from SmartLynx Airlines. Ngala revealed that this withdrawal was executed without prior notice, characterizing it as a clear breach of both industry standards and the agreement between the two parties.

American Airlines reported on Saturday that aircraft grounded due to an Airbus recall have been updated with new software and can resume operations.

As of 12 p.m. CT, all of the 209 affected aircraft have been updated, according to the company.

“American anticipates no further operational impact stemming from the Emergency Airworthiness Directive and looks forward to the final days of the Thanksgiving holiday travel season, particularly Sunday, our busiest travel day.”

A mandatory software update from Airbus for 6,000 A320-series jets caused a significant disruption, grounding a large portion of the global narrow-body fleet over a peak travel weekend and leaving thousands of passengers stranded worldwide.

This directive, one of the most extensive in Airbus’s 55-year history, had an immediate global effect, impacting holiday travel from the United States to Australia.

The disruption was especially intense in Asia, where the single-aisle A320 serves as the backbone of regional travel.

United Airlines reported six aircraft were affected but expected “minor disruption to a few flights,” while Delta Air Lines indicated that fewer than 50 of its Airbus A320s faced impacts.

Japan’s ANA Holdings, which operates the largest Airbus narrow-body fleet in the country, canceled 95 domestic flights on Saturday, leaving roughly 13,200 passengers stranded.

In contrast, rival Japan Airlines, which primarily uses Boeing aircraft, experienced less disruption.