RwandAir, the national carrier said, last week, that it recorded a steady growth in passenger traffic of around 18 to 20 percent in 2010 after it expanded its operations amid growing completion in EAC’s aviation industry.

"We have realised a steady growth in passenger numbers since the new equipment has enabled the opening of new destination,” the airline’s Marketing and Corporate Communications Manager, Michael Otieno told Business Times.

The airline uplifted a minimum of 10,000 passengers monthly in the course of 2010, mainly boosted by more capacity on routes like Johannesburg and the launch of new routes like Mombasa and Dubai in the last quarter of 2010, he said.  

The company is poised to maintain the trend on account of this year’s anticipated increase in travel demand.  
"Passenger revenues definitely grew with the fleet and network expansion. Worthy to note however is that the cost of operation has also increased significantly due to the acquisition of new aircraft and new routes,” Otieno said.  

He added that as their operations stabilise they forecast growth on the passenger revenues in 2011, however, they are also keen to diversify and grow other revenue streams as an airline.  

Rwandair is currently facing competition from different carriers from the region but, Otieno said that each airline operating out of Kigali has unique products for passengers, hence more travel options.

"Where we have mutually realized we are duplicating efforts we have pursued agreements like code shares and on other fronts we have entered agreements that can have benefits for our clients beyond our network,” he said.  

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