RwandAir Accra flight will boost investment - Ghana

The launch of commercial flights to Accra, Ghana by RwandAir will boost business and open up investment opportunities between the two countries, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, Ghana’s deputy transport minister, has said. 

Monday, June 17, 2013
RwandAir passengers disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra . The New Times / Peterson Tumwebaze

The launch of commercial flights to Accra, Ghana by RwandAir will boost business and open up investment opportunities between the two countries, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, Ghana’s deputy transport minister, has said.  "This is a good move that will ease access to Rwanda... There is no reason why investors from our two countries should not use the flight to tap into the opportunities it presents,” Mogtari noted during the airline’s inaugural flight gala at La-Palm Royale Beach Hotel in Accra on Saturday. The airline jets into Accra five times a week.Silas Lwakabamba, the infrastructure minister, noted that the flights into Ghana would not only improve bilateral trade between the two countries but also consolidate the business opportunities that exist between the two states.  "Our bilateral relations are already excellent, the question now is increasing co-operation, especially in areas of trade and tourism while consolidating our markets in Africa and beyond,” Lwakabamba said. John Mirenge, the RwandAir chief executive officer, said the Accra route would connect Rwanda and East Africa to the rest of Africa.  "Our target is to connect Africa with the rest of the world because we believe that connectivity is the only way Africa will achieve economic development”.  Dominic Pokperlar, a regular traveller, hailed the flight, calling it a great business opportunity he must exploit. "I now have a better choice…at $687 from Kigali to Accra it is the cheapest in the region,” Pokperlar, who was aboard the inuaguration flight, told Business Times.RwandAir will soon start flights to Juba in South Sudan, as well as Douala in Cameroon and Abidjan, Ivory Coast this year, according to Mirenge.The airline flies to two domestic destinations. It operates international flights to Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya, Entebbe-Uganda, Bujumbura-Burundi and Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Mwanza in Tanzania. It also flies to Johannesburg-South Africa, Dubai, Libreville and Brazzaville.