Air Peace (P4, Lagos) reportedly has filed a 1x weekly Lagos-São Paulo Guarulhos service with Brazil's civil aviation regulator (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC) for launch on December 15, 2026, using a B777-200ER, but the airline has yet to confirm the route or open sales. If confirmed, it would restore the first scheduled direct Nigeria-Brazil air link in 32 years since Varig withdrew from the route in 1994. Air Peace received Brazilian operating authorisation in June 2026. CEO Allen Onyema announced Air Peace's plans for nonstop flights to São Paulo with the delivery of the airline's second B777-200ER, 5N-CEG (msn 33395), in March 2025. ch-aviation has asked the airline to comment.

Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius) is reassessing three A350-900s it has on order and has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for up to five narrowbodies as part of a fleet review under its wider Future-Fit Game Changer restructuring plan.

The airline is also considering converting its sole ATR72-500 into a medevac and cargo aircraft for services to Rodrigues Island, the airline said in a statement.

This follows the completion of a "clean-sheet" ten-year network review by aviation consultancy Seabury Aviation Partners and the application of route-profitability criteria to a fit-for-purpose network.

As previously reported, Air Mauritius' three additional A350-900s are scheduled for delivery in December 2026, first quarter of 2028, and final quarter of 2028. It was not immediately clear if these deliveries have been deferred.

CEO André Viljoen previously said that the airline was considering adding narrowbodies such as the A321-200NX(LR) or B737 MAX. The airline's current fleet of 11 aircraft comprises widebodies and regional aircraft, including four A350-900s, two A330-900Ns, one A330-200, three ATR72-600s, and one ATR72-500.

Viljoen previously said the narrowbodies would be better suited than the carrier's A330 widebodies for routes such as Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, Cape Town International, Kuala Lumpur International, and Mumbai International, allowing the airline to increase frequencies while lowering operating costs.

Meanwhile, the airline has established a "fuel war room" to oversee flight planning, weight reduction, auxiliary power unit management, and tankering. An efficiency and cost control office is also being established.

Between August 2026 and July 2027, the focus would be on revamping the airline's onboard experience, covering crew training, menu improvements, and a sharper focus on passengers. Lounge upgrades and a refurbished ticket office in Ebène have already been completed.

Ten-point plan

Viljoen is presenting the ten-point turnaround plan to employees, trade unions, and other stakeholders. The plan follows an organisational review and aims to address current challenges and support sustainable long-term growth, the airline said.

The first strategy, Perfecting the Basics, focuses on operational foundations, ahead of wider priorities including fleet modernisation, network development, partnerships, cost management, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.

Air Mauritius said it had completed diagnostic assessments across all functions and begun implementing changes. It has also signed memoranda of understanding and collective agreements with trade unions.

Early results include technical dispatch reliability of 98.72% in July 2026, the airline’s best monthly performance since 2020 and above its 98.5% benchmark. The result follows 12 months of improvement. Customer satisfaction rose from 72.2% in September 2025 to 76.1% in August 2026.

IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) plans to return its sole B747 Combi to service in just over a month, CEO Taher Abdolhai said at a press conference on October 19, 2026. On the matter of operational difficulties, he added that sanctions had been taking a toll on the entire aviation sector in Iran for a long time and that IranAir has only six active aircraft.

"IranAir is facing fleet limitations, accumulated debts, and a reduction in international routes, while the return of grounded aircraft and the development of flights depend on the supply of parts, financial resources, and compliance with safety requirements," Abdolhai said, according to a statement on the carrier’s official Telegram channel.

The CEO revealed that the B747-200CM will return to service before the end of the year. “This aircraft has reached the threshold of 20,000 flight cycles and must undergo the necessary repair steps to continue operating, a process that is estimated to take about one-and-a-half to two months,” he said.

IranAir’s only B747 is 38.1-year-old EP-ICD (msn 24134), equipped with GE Aerospace CF6-50E2 engines. It entered the company’s fleet in 2008 and has faced multiple periods of inactivity over parts issues as Iran struggles with US sanctions. It was initially delivered to Martinair (Netherlands) in 1988. IranAir and all of its aircraft, including EP-ICD, have been sanctioned by the US since 2018, but EP-ICD was also listed in 2022 to the United States Department of Commerce’s export restrictions over Russia flights.

According to ch-aviation research, EP-ICD was last active in late September on the Tehran-Tianjin route.

Abdolhai also revealed that 30-40 operational aircraft in Iran were destroyed during the war, while another 70-80 were hit, according to an Iran International report citing Nournews. He added that damage to aircraft varied and that one IranAir aircraft was “completely pulverised”.

Estimates on damage to civilian aircraft have varied since the start of the war. In August, transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh said nearly 100 civilian aircraft in Iran had been damaged since the start of the war with the United States and Israel, while Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi, head of Iran’s parliamentary Civil Commission, put the number at 50 damaged and 10 destroyed.

A321 cannibalisation

Abdolhai stressed that access to parts remains the greatest challenge to Iranian airlines.

“The A321-200 is Homa's most advanced aircraft and one of the most advanced aircraft in the country, but a large quantity of its parts have been taken for use in other aircraft, and this aircraft needs two engines and many parts to return to operations,” the CEO said.

The flag carrier’s sole A321-200 is 9.9-year-old EP-IFA (msn 7418), ch-aviation data shows. It was powered by CFM56-5B3/P engines and ordered by IranAir in 2016. Its arrival was enabled by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from 2015, with the orders and parts sales halted when the US cancelled export licences granted to Airbus and Boeing.