Boeing Commercial Airplanes, yesterday, announced the commencement of assembly work on one of two RwandAir’s Boeing 737-800 aeroplanes slated for delivery on August 25, this year.

Work on the national carrier’s first fully-owned Boeing jet is being carried out at the company’s plant in Seattle, USA. 

RwandAir CEO, John Mirenge said in a statement that the whole purchase process and the after-works involving supplier sourcing for various parts and all preparations have been going on smoothly. 

"I confirm the aircraft will be handed over to RwandAir management on August 25, 2011. We have been doing a lot towards ensuring adequate preparedness; nine Rwandans have just concluding their maintenance training in the USA, pilots familiarisation on the Boeing 737-800 is ongoing and we expect to send our cabin crew for training on the same aircraft shortly,” Mirenge noted.

The assembly works, which take approximately 11 days, involve processes like joining of wings to the main hull before other major installations like engines and landing gear.

"RwandAir is a very important customer; they become the first airline in Africa to order and receive the Boeing 737-800 with the Sky Interior Concept,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Account Manager, Customer Engineering, Mehrdad Khademi is quoted in a statement.

He added that a lot of details go into the process and they expect to roll out of assembly in 11 days, after which they would proceed to conduct ground and flight tests.

The national carrier is expected to take delivery of the second Boeing 737-800 planes in September 2011.

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