Etihad Airways and Air Peace have signed an interline agreement that will expand travel connectivity across Nigeria, West and Central Africa — enabling passengers to book seamless single-ticket journeys that combine Etihad's global network with Air Peace's extensive domestic and regional route structure, and check baggage through to their final destination without separate check-in at connecting airports.
The agreement, reported by NigerianFLIGHTDECK, represents a significant commercial development for both carriers and for Nigerian aviation connectivity. For Etihad, it creates a distribution relationship with Nigeria's largest airline that channels Air Peace's passengers — travelling from Nigerian cities beyond Lagos — onto Etihad's Abu Dhabi hub connections to Europe, Asia, and Australia. For Air Peace, it provides a premium international partner whose passengers arriving at Lagos or Abuja can connect seamlessly onto Air Peace's domestic network to reach Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano, Sokoto, and other Nigerian destinations.
What Interline Means in Practice
An interline agreement allows two airlines to sell tickets on each other's flights as part of a single itinerary — meaning a passenger can book a journey from, say, Enugu to London via Lagos and Abu Dhabi on a single ticket, with Etihad and Air Peace cooperating on the booking, baggage handling, and passenger transfer. If a flight is delayed and a connection is missed, the passenger is protected under the single ticket arrangement rather than having to rebook independently at their own expense.
This is distinct from a codeshare agreement — where one airline places its code on another's flights and actively markets them as its own — but interline is an important first step that often precedes deeper commercial partnerships. The Air Peace-Turkish Airlines agreement signed in April 2026, under which the two carriers established a codeshare arrangement, illustrates how interline relationships can evolve into closer commercial ties.
Etihad's Nigeria Strategy
Etihad Airways is preparing to resume flights to Nigeria, with Lagos services expected to begin by late March 2027 according to NigerianFLIGHTDECK. The interline agreement with Air Peace, signed ahead of the service resumption, establishes the commercial infrastructure needed to make Etihad's Nigeria operations commercially effective from day one — by providing a domestic feed network that fills Etihad seats with connecting passengers from cities beyond Lagos that Etihad cannot serve directly.
For Nigeria's aviation connectivity ambitions, the Etihad-Air Peace partnership adds a significant Gulf carrier connection to the international route access that Nigerian passengers need. Combined with Air Peace's existing partnerships and expanding African network, the interline agreement positions Lagos increasingly as a genuine connecting hub — not just a point-to-point market — in the pattern of African aviation integration that the Lomé Declaration committed the continent to accelerating.
