RwandAir confirms flights to Harare – CEO

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RwandaAir
RwandAir

RwandAir?s CEO, Mr. John Mirenge, yesterday, on the occasion of launching the airline?s fifth freedom right flight from Entebbe to Nairobi, confirmed that there is keen interest to seek similar arrangements with Zimbabwe, in line with the upcoming flights to Lusaka.

RwandAir is one of the regional airlines due to benefit from the latest developments. (File)
RwandAir

Zambia?s capital city, notably also home to COMESA of which Rwanda is a member country, will see an initial three flights per week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday come March 27, the service then continuing to Johannesburg with full fifth freedom rights on the route. Harare could be linked in a similar fashion, and it is understood that trilateral negotiations are ongoing to secure landing and route rights.
At the same time, Mr. Mirenge then affirmed that flights to Abidjan were still on track to be launched later this year and that RwandAir was also eyeing Cotonou, with no launch date given as yet, serving notice of intent to connect key cities in West Africa with East Africa and beyond.
While speaking to the media at the Karibuni Lounge in Entebbe prior the inaugural flight to Nairobi, Mr. Mirenge then also gave the clearest indication yet that the airline?s fleet development may be accelerated. Already operating one of Africa?s youngest fleets, a second Bombardier Q400 joined in a few months? time and a third Boeing B737-800NG is also on order for delivery, going by the comments made, as early as Q4 this year. The surprise, however, was that RwandAir appears to be in talks with manufacturers about a bridging solution, to have wide-bodied aircraft available ahead of the planned delivery of two Boeing B787 Dreamliners, which are expected to be around 2017.
Should in fact such a stop gap solution be found, RwandAir could launch their long-haul flights, often talked about in the past by the airline?s management. Flights to China and India and also Europe would then make RwandAir a true hub airline, connecting Western, Eastern and Southern Africa to the Gulf and Asia.
Kigali International Airport?s accelerated expansion, ahead of the start of construction of an entirely new airport in Bugesera, can now easily facilitate added passenger numbers after adding four more departure gates, tripling from the previous two and where check-in counter space also more than doubled during the modernization of the main terminal building.
Besides transit traffic through Kigali, the airline, however, also keenly eyed destination traffic into Rwanda. Added visitor numbers will be a shot in the arm for the country?s already fast-growing tourism industry. When the new national convention center and the adjoining hotel, both to be managed by Rezidor?s Radisson Blu, get completed these added facilities will bring more of the coveted MICE business into the Land of a Thousand Hills. The hospitality sector, presently led by Serena and followed by Kempinski which in July last year took on the management of the Des Mille Collines, will soon be joined by Marriott proper, while one of the brands Marriott acquired last year, Protea, is already expanding their footprint in the three/four-star bracket.
It is clear for regular observers of the Rwandan hospitality, tourism, and aviation scene that key pieces of a well-designed master plan are beginning to fall into place. This will help the country, which rose like a Phoenix from the ashes of 1994, to solidify economic gains and create real prosperity for her people, unlike many other countries where this remains a mere fiction. Already a shining example on the continent of Africa for good leadership and governance, discipline, accountability, and a zero tolerance for corruption, Rwanda is today seen as a role model around the world of how to transform a previously, by and large anyway, agriculture-based economy into a mixed economy with strong emphasis on the service industry and ICT

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