Rwandair to interline with Hahn air

The deal will also make Hahn air Rwandair’s 10th interline partner following agreements with Kenya Airways, South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, KLM, Precision Air, Qatar Airways, SN Brussels and Air Tanzania Rwandair express is set to reach an agreement with Hahn Airlines this month for the latter to be able to provide sales and distribution services for the former. Michael P. Otieno, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications of the State-owned airline said in an exclusive interview with the New Times on Thursday that Rwandair has signed some agreements with the German based airline. Without revealing details of the agreements he said, “There are those agreements that have been signed. There are those that are yet to be signed.” He was not sure about the exact date when the deal would be finalised but was optimistic consent between the two parties would be reached this month. “The agreements are not dependent on Rwandair but also the pace at which the negotiating partner is moving. On our part we are moving within schedule,” he said. The move will make it easier for Rwandair to access markets where the airline is not currently flying to. “I am sure Rwandans would like to fly to some destinations and as Rwandair, we would like to connect to these destinations,” Otieno said. The deal will also make Hahn air Rwandair’s 10th interline partner following agreements with Kenya Airways, South African airways, Ethiopian airline, North West, KLM, Precision air, Qatar Airways, SN Brussels and Air Tanzania. It is also said to be part of the company’s extensive plan to revamp its operations and to become one of the region’s most customer-friendly airliners. The agreement also seems to be particularly important for Rwandair which plans to offer a complete package of e-ticketing very soon. It could allow Rwandair to tap on Hahn Air’s seamless ticketing processes it offers to over 200 airlines with which it currently has interline agreements. “You can make on-line reservations at the moment what you can’t do at the moment is check in online,” Otieno said. He added that in a few months from now they will re-launch their website to allow their travelers make reservations online and ultimately check in online. Rwandair is also in the process of acquiring its own fleets and the carrier is targeting six more routes this year including the Gisenyi route. “I can not comment extensively on that but there are negotiations which are underway, they are at advanced stages. But yes, the plans for fleet acquisition are within finalised stages,” Otieno revealed. Rwandair flies twice to Entebbe daily, Nairobi and Johannesburg. “Locally we are in advanced stages of introducing a flight to Gisenyi which is actually supposed to take place from now. We have the flights; we have the marketing going on for Gisenyi, sometimes in the near future we are going to be flying to Gisenyi twice a day. We are working on Dar-es- salaam and other routes in the region.” “The strategy we take is while opening up new routes we increase the frequencies on our existing routes”. Ends

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Rwandair to interline with Hahn air