The airline is eyeing passengers with Rwandan connections in France and Belgium in the yet to be launched route
RwandAir is expected to launch direct flights between Paris and Kigali in the coming weeks after the delivery of the new aircraft — A330-200.
While details are yet to be released, Rwanda Today has learnt the airline is advanced stages of launching the route to take advantage of summer holiday traffic.
The route is expected to be a significant boost for the airline due to the existing huge Rwandan diaspora community living in France and Belgium.
This comes at a time when Uganda Airlines is also expected to relaunch direct flights to Kigali International Airport. “We are excited to be expanding our fleet further with the addition of our third long-haul aircraft. Its addition will allow us to continue our route expansion and offer customers even more connections...” said Yvonne Makolo, the Chief Executive Officer, RwandAir in a statement posted on social media.
RwandAir has significantly expanded its operations over the last two years. The latest acquisition makes it a total of 13 aircraft serving 28 destinations across East, Central, West, and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
Negotiations with Qatar
However, its capacity is expected to double this year when it concludes negotiations with Qatar, which is set to acquire a 49 percent stake. Qatar Airways’ planned investment is valued at least $28 million, according to financial statements submitted to the US Department of Transportation in 2021.
On October 5, 2021, RwandAir and Qatar Airways announced they had signed a comprehensive codeshare agreement that gives the Rwandan carrier access to Qatar’s more than 65 destinations across Africa and the rest of the world.
As part of the deal, RwandAir launched non-stop flights between its Kigali hub and Doha in December. Last year, the airline launched direct flights between London Heathrow and Kigali and increased the frequency to four times a week from the indirect thrice-weekly operation which it had been operating via Brussels for the past five years.
RwandAir says increasing frequency allows easy connections through Kigali and to other destinations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
The airline has flown between London and Kigali since May 2017 via an indirect service through Brussels, having launched flights from London Gatwick on 26 May 2017. In 2020, after three successful years of operations, RwandAir decided to switch flights to Heathrow.