The national carrier, RwandAir, has embarked on the next step in its expansion programme by adding six more destinations on the African continent. 

John Mirenge, the RwandAir chief executive, said the airline will open new routes to Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, Harare in Zimbabwe, Lilongwe in Malawi, Cotonou in Benin, Khartoum in Sudan and Bamako in Mali.

"We want to consolidate our presence in West Africa by including Abidjan on our flight list this year and later on move to Southern Africa as part of the strategy to strengthen our footprint on the continent,” Mirenge said on Wednesday.

Africa’s fastest-growing airline also plans to expand its operations to European markets, starting flights to London and Paris and, later next year, India and Guangzhou in China.

The airline currently flies to 18 destinations, including Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Lusaka, Juba, Douala, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjalo, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.

Traders welcome the initiative

Patrick Gasana, a Kigali-based trader, said the move will help unlock Rwanda’s trade opportunities with the rest of the world.

"The country is talking of boosting its exports and trade linkages with the rest of the world; so such ambitious plans require more connectivity and affordable transport means... Having the national carrier expand its wings to six more destinations will help address this challenge,” Gasana said.

Strengthening fleet

The airline is equally adding four new aircraft, plus two wide body Airbus (A330-300 and 200) planes, which are expected in September and November this year. This will expand the airline’s fleet from eight aircraft to 14 airplanes by the end of the year.

Last year, the airline transported more than 600,000 passengers, and Mirenge says they seek to increase the airline’s capacity to ferry about three million passengers annually in the next five years.

"We are counting on our resilience and on our time performance to remain competitive in the global aviation market,” said Mirenge.

The acquisition of the two wide-body aircraft from Airbus for example will significantly increase the airline’s capacity to effectively meet growing demand and provide exceptional service quality for the ever-growing Asia, China and European passenger markets, he added.

RwandAir was last year recognised as one of the safest airlines by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) after passing the operational safety audit (IOSA). It later became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), joining a club of 250 member airlines in over 150 countries.

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