Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, will delay the delivery of the brand new Regional Jets, the airline had set to acquire mid-this year, the airline’s officials disclosed. The delivery of the two aircrafts which was initially set for June, this year, was supposed to come in as replacements for the CRJ200 jets, which were sold earlier this year. “We are still negotiating with potential companies to supply us with the aircrafts which is now taking more time. The aircrafts will not be delivered until the 4th quarter of this year, unlike the date announced before,” RwandAir’s Chief Executive Officer, John Mirenge told The Business Times yesterday.The Rwanda flag carrier will be replacing the two small aircrafts with bigger ones to respond to the growing demand in the region and growth in passenger numbers.Regional Jets are short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircrafts, normally with capacity to carry between 70 and 100 passengers.RwandAir purchased the two CRJ200s in 2009 at the start of their fleet acquisition process. The airline secured a loan facility from the Eastern and Southern Trade Development Bank (PTA-Bank) to acquire the fleet it has now.The total loan, which is payable in10 years, is $85 million (About Rwf50.8bn).
