Mwanza becomes RwandAir’s 14th destination

Rwanda's national carrier, RwandAir, on Monday launched direct flights to Mwanza, Tanzania, making it the third destination for the airline in the neighbuoring country.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Alice B. Katiti, Director, Sales & Distribution RwandAir (L),Tanzaniau2019s Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of transport, John T.J Mngodo (C), and Bert Van Der Stege, Commercial Director, RwandAir, cutting a ribbon at Mwanza International Airport.

Rwanda's national carrier, RwandAir, on Monday launched direct flights to Mwanza, Tanzania, making it the third destination for the airline in the neighbuoring country.The flight also becomes the airline's 14th destination on its network.RwandAir will be operating three weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. The airline's Chief Executive Officer, John Mirenge, said the national carrier is aiming at building a convenient network and expand operations to key cities in the region."RwandAir is the first airline to offer direct flights between Mwanza and Kigali. At present no other airline offers flights between Tanzania and Rwanda,” he said. RwandAir's Commercial Director, Bert Van Der Stege, noted that it’s now easier to visit the neighbouring countries from Mwanza, do business in Dubai, Johannesburg, Bujumbura, Kenya and Uganda.The new flights from Kigali will be operated by Bombardier Dash8 -200 aircraft with a 37 passenger seating capacity.Mwanza is the capital city of Mwanza region on the shores of Lake Victoria in northwestern Tanzania. With over 800,000 inhabitants, Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania and a main business centre for regions around Lake Victoria.Tanzania’s Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, John T.J. Mngodo, said the new flight will facilitate the growth of business between the people of Mwanza and Tanzania."Mwanza is rich if Fishery and Mining industry and we believe will the new direct flight, it will promote trade and tourism between East African countries and the rest of the World,” Mngodo explained.With two brand new CRJ900 regional jets, scheduled to arrive in October this year, Van Der Stege said the airline project a growth of 30 per cent in Passenger numbers.Currently, RwandAir serves two domestic destinations, all the East African capitals and many regional cities including as Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Mwanza, the airline also serves Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.