RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2023

[rwandan-flyer]

Lufthansa Group adds more capacity in East Africa:

Lufthansa Group is ramping up capacity across its network in East Africa, going daily between Nairobi-Frankfurt and Brussels-Entebbe. It is adding a fifth flight to Kigali. Frankfurt-Mombasa benefits from additional service increasing frequency to Mombasa to five flights a week. Lufthansa grows East African presence with additional flights.

The 5 weekly service BRU KGL will be now also operated in the winter, like before covid. With the KGL CDG BRU service, there will be 8 flights a week btw KGL and BRU. No a big surprise BRU KGL it's the largest O&D for Kigali (56 000 in 2019), after KGL NBO (over 115 000 pax in 2019)

https://airinsight.com/lufthansa-grows- ... l-flights/

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Some pics of the Kigali New Bugesera Airport as of may 2023. The airport should open in 2026, 9 years after the start of its construction (funds, redesign, covid, new tenders,...) https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/7443 ... n-bugesera

© Aviation Travel and Logistics (ATL), a government-owned holding company managing aviation-related activities,



It was about time, tje current airport (that wil be used for VIP , charter flights and pilot traning school) is surrounded by the Kigali City https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

© Rwanda Airport Company (Oct 2021 https://www.flickr.com/photos/196285887 ... 302663895/)

[rwandan-flyer]

President Kagame spoke on the construction site of Bugesera airport (which is rare). Apparently, the goal is to accelerate the construction which started in 2017, but which has been delayed for the reasons I have already mentioned.

The goal is to reach 70% of the project by the end of 2023 with an opening by the second half of 2024, 2 years before the planned date. The announcement is not insignificant because it was made yesterday, during an economic forum which is happening in...Qatar. President Rwanda had also been welcomed at Doha airport by the CEO of...Qatar Airways

New airport will be at 70% of completion by end 2023 - Kagame

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/7706 ... 3---kagame

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The 5th Boeing 737-800 for RwandAir was seen in Budapest on May 22, 2023. It still has its reg from the Channel Islands 2-AOBG (BBAM Aircraft Leasing & Management)). No info on its future Rwandan registration. It was an Ex Oman Air delivered in 2009 intended for Delta Airlines which did not take it.

Thanks to Fennec for allowing me to publish his photo. I hope to have more from Hungarian Spotters. I was able to glean some info. The plane was coming from Kaunas. It was supposed to arrive last month.

It was destocked at the start of 2023, after 2 and a half years of storage. We see a video where he still has a white livery, where he did touch and go in Cardiff last week (Budapest-Cardiff-Shannon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s28t6t0gJvo

Note from June 2023, Dubai will be served daily by RwandAir iso 5 flights a week, while Doha will be served 6 times a week iso 3 times. The aircraft will no longer spend its day at Doha.

[rwandan-flyer]

Yolande Makolo the CEO of RwandAir becomes the 1st woman to lead IATA https://twitter.com/IATA/status/1665619348503900160

Interview of the Station Manager of RwandAir in India by an Indian Tourism youtube channel. Too bad that the A330 flies very rarely (especially since the 9XR-WX is not flying too much at the moment). This was not the case in 2021, when the A330 flew regularly on BOM. The B737-800 flights have good loads and are forced to fuel stop in Mombasa, as it is impossible to fly fully loaded non-stop from Kigali to Mumbai. Nevertheless, the company will return to 3 flights per week from the end of June 2023. We also learn that RwandAir has an interline agreement with Air India as with Vistara. AI that has code share Kigali with Ethiopian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T195qiwqe_o

Origin & Departures in 2019 (pax)

Kigali Mumbai: 10,924 (3rd market in Asia behind Kigali Dubai 23,690 and Kigali Guangzhou 12,667)

Kigali-Delhi: 3,074

Kigali Chennai: 410

Kigali-Hyderabad: 298

Demand seems to be high right now in Rwanda. Ethiopian sends long haul aircraft, sometimes via Bujumbura as for the A350 or then non stop. On June 12, 2023 (the night flight will leave ADD on June 11, 2023), the 2 daily flights will be operated by B787. In Africa, only Entebbe, Nairobi and Johannesburg have the privilege of having at least 2 long-haul flights per day. To see if ETH will one day add a 3rd daily flight to Kigali (as is the case in Entebbe, Johanensburg and Nairobi in Africa) or this 3rd flight will be operated by RwandAir which plans to fly to Addis Ababa. The company has code share on Ethiopian's 2 daily flights.

The Ethiopian daytime flight must spend about 3h30 in Kigali (for a 2h30 flight) to be able to match with the connections at ADD (not too long and not too short)

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir still looking to retire its regional aircraft and find an alternative.: E2 or A220-100 ? (just my opinion). I won't be suprised if they add E2. The E2 (E190-E2 avec 96 seats) made 2 visits in Rwanda in 2022, once included demo flight over Rwanda and from Kigali to Kamembe in Rwanda (currently served by RwandAir Q400). And Rwanda Air Force is in talks with Embraer to acquire KC 390 (tactical transport aircraft) https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... -airlifter. It will be a good deal for Embraer in Rwanda. Sell aircraft to the Air Force and to the national flag carrier


The airline will add another B737-800 the next month and plans to add another widebody aircraft. Qatar Airways to be finalised in coming months. Covid and World Cup in Qatar delayed the talks. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... investment

Note that yesterday RwandAir Cargo started to fly to Douala (Cameroon) via Brazzaville. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/9xrww

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir will reduce its flights to Lagos in July, August and September (7 flights per week to 5 flights per week). Daily flights return in October 2023. In the same time Nairobi will be served 4 times a day on certain days (instead of 3) and Dar Es Salaam will see 2 flights a day except Sunday. (1 flight per day).

There will be up to 7 flights per day (3 with Kenya Airways) between Nairobi and Kigali this summer. Back to capacities before covid19.

From the beginning of July 2023, Harare will be served without the tag with Cape Town every Saturday (Cape Kigali will be reduced from 7 to 6 flights per week). The flight will depart at 10:50 a.m. from Kigali instead of 08:10 a.m. (when the flight continues to CPT). HRE will still served daily.

I just saw it, RwandAir has extended its partnership with Ethiopian. Only the 2 daily flights between Addis Ababa and Kigali were operated under code share. It would seem that RwandAir has deployed its code on other flights departing from Addis Ababa.

For the moment on 2 routes

Addis Ababa-Geneva-Manchester
Addis Ababa-Oslo-Stockholm

Geneva is the only destination "served" by RwandAir via 3 code shares: WB1259 (Turkish Airlines), WB1010 (Qatar Airways) and WB 1243 (Ethiopian Airlines)

Oslo (WB 1029), Stockholm (WB1027) and Manchester (WB 1003) are already served in code share by RwandAir via Qatar Airways.

[rwandan-flyer]

Since this Monday, Accra is served without the tag with Abuja. Accra-Kigali operated by RwandAir still 4 flights per week and Abuja decreases to 3 flights per week.

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Interview with the representative of RwandAir in Gabon, by a Gabonese media (sub tittles provided) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16TY4M8M2I&t=615s

We learn that before the covid, RwandAir transported more than 40,000 passengers from Gabon. This includes lines to Douala and Kigali (Kigali-Libreville-Douala). In 2022, we are at 13,000 passengers (with twice fewer flights), but the person remains optimistic about a resumption of pre-covid traffic by 2024-2025. In particular with the opening of new lines to Africa: Luanda (Angola), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Maputo (Mozambique) and Mombasa (Kenya).

But it is above all the line to Paris that will help boost traffic. Paris was one of the most populardestinations from Gabon. Besides, she talks about the advantage of going through Kigali (the journalist also asked a lot of questions). Short transit, good schedules, Kigali is a pleasant airport, the comfort of the A330s,...

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The IMF has published a report on the Rwandan economy. Heavily affected by the various crises of recent years (inflation, debt and currency crisis), growth seems to be there and the outlook is rather good (the service sector and agriculture are growing). What is interesting in this report is that we see the subsidies that RwandAir has received since 2021. And what will be paid until 2028. It remains high ( the company is still not profitable) , but the trend is down compared to 2021. We will see what will happen with Qatar Airways.

It must be taken into account that the country will invest massively (and this to subsidize) in the green economy (reduction of emissions by 38% by 2030) and in particular in transport. The country will allocate more than $2.9 billion to aviation by 2050 for greener aviation https://www-agenceecofin-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp


"In the same vein, and within the framework of the revised Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS), the country intends to mobilize around 13 billion dollars for the “green and inclusive” development of its transport system. In detail, 2.6 billion dollars must be allocated to electric mobility in cities, 2.9 billion dollars to the development of aviation, 1.6 billion dollars to the construction of the rail network, 1 billion $4.4 billion for waterways and other regional infrastructure such as border crossings, and $4.4 billion for road infrastructure." https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp

Noted that Rwanda repaid its loan (its very first Eurobond issued in 2013) a few weeks ago. This Eurobond had notably financed the new congress center of Kigali and RwandAir (in particular the order of the A330s)

p38: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/ ... the-534297

It is in Rwandan Francs (billions) and not in USD

[rwandan-flyer]

For the first time in its history, RwandAir joins the top 100 of the best companies in the SkyTrax ranking. She ranks 90th, ahead of Brussels Airlines

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/

SkyTrax has been highly criticized for quite a few years. She tends to overrate some companies according to some avgeeks. Does RwandAir deserve this place? I don't know. However, it will be illusory not to think that the company didn't made great efforts to upgrade its service (even if there is still a lot work to do, especially in the management of lost or undelivered luggage).

At the African level, the company ranks 2nd for regional companies (13th in the world ranking) and it ranks 6th if all African companies are included.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/best ... by-region/
https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/


Aeroutes has just announced that RwandAir has added its WB code to other lines departing from Doha (that's 68 code share flights departing from Doha). Quite surprising for some destinations, but either Qatar Airways and RwandAir estimate that there are pax in transit from and to Africa on these destinations (I am thinking of Mykonos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia) . Huge additions in Pakistan. A way to compete with Ethiopian?

Athens, Baku, Belgrade, Birmingham, Islamabad, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, Lahore, London Gatwick, Multan, Mykonos, Peshawar, Sialkot, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Zagreb.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230620-wbqrcodeshare

[rwandan-flyer]

Signature of a partnership between RwandAir and Ita Airways (interline)

RwandAir passengers will have access to the ITA Airways network departing from Rome and Milan via Brussels, Paris and London. ITA Airways passengers will have access to the RwandAir network departing from Kigali via also BRU, CDG and LHR.

https://www-guidaviaggi-it.translate.go ... r_pto=wapp


Not bad these big agreements with British Airways (which makes pre-routing to Heathrow, you can see it on the RwandAir website), Vistara (also pre-routing in India), Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines (code share), Qatar Airways ( code share) and Ethiopian Airlines (code share). Not bad for a small company. An agreement with United (Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, New York) at T1 at CDG will be cool

[rwandan-flyer]

Aeroutes has just announced that RwandAir has added its WB code to other lines departing from Doha (that's 68 code share flights departing from Doha). Quite surprising for some destinations, but either Qatar Airways and RwandAir estimate that there are pax in transit from and to Africa on these destinations (I am thinking of Mykonos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia) . Huge additions in Pakistan. A way to compete with Ethiopian?

Athens, Baku, Belgrade, Birmingham, Islamabad, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, Lahore, London Gatwick, Multan, Mykonos, Peshawar, Sialkot, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Zagreb.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230620-wbqrcodeshare

Australia has just been added: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide. In addition, there are also Sarajevo, Adana (Turkey) and Bordum (Turkey). I guess the next wave will be South East Asia and East and Southern Asia: Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo,....

https://www.doha-airport.com/departures ... ndair?tp=0

[rwandan-flyer]

As part of its hub in Kigali, Qatar Airways Cargo opened a Kigali-Kano (Nigeria) cargo line 10 days ago, operated by an A310 from ULS Cargo. I can't find the flight on the company's website. ULS Cargo Commercial Manager was in Rwanda last week https://twitter.com/TurkEmbKigali/statu ... 0523150336

On the other hand, the Kigali Johannesburg cargo route will open on July 3, 2023, with 3 flights per week. One flight on Monday and 2 on Friday.

Flights will be operated under RwandAir flight numbers. Cargo capacity to South Africa and Nigeria will increase, adding belly pax flights.

RwandAir flies to Johannesburg twice a day, Cape Town 6 times a week. About Lagos, RwandAir flies there by cargo 5 times a week, but by pax flight 5 times a week and 3 times a week to Abuja.

RwandAir Cargo operating on its own account (with its own aircraft) flights to Brazzaville, Entebbe, Nairobi, Douala and Sharjah

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/qatar-ai ... 48096-KTRY

[rwandan-flyer]

1st flight for RwandAir to & from Paris CDG. VIP people on arrival (as often in this case). For the return, 150 pax (I spoke with the ground staff) boarded at CDG in 274 seats. Jeune Afrique in an article where it explains how the route opened (and by the way AF says that it does not wish to immediately relaunch its ROUTE to Kigali, because there is KLM) says that the flight was full. https://n3k6.wordpress.com/2023/06/28/c ... ali-paris/

You have to combine Brussels and CDG: 150 pax from CDG and 124 pax from Brussels. The bad thing, big delay in Brussels probably due to the queue at the police checks. There were quite a few non-Schengen flights delayed yesterday at BRU. The plane arrived in Paris 2h30 late and therefore left a little over 2h late.

I think no one expected to see a person of Rwandan origin working in the aviation coming to chat with the ground staff


Funny, the plane was parked next to a Qatar Airways B777. Photos of the arrival of the plane from BRU.

The next RwandAir B737-800 will arrive in July 2023



6 check in desk were opened for this flight

[rwandan-flyer]

LF for yesterday for RwandAir: full flight on BRU-CDG-KGL on 274 seats

65-70% of pax boarded in Brussels
30-35% of pax boarded at CDG

About CDG, there were some interesting things. Many Rwandans (it spoke Kinyarwanda), I had the chance to meet the "Sam Chui Rwandais" (Cyril Ndegeya https://rw.linkedin.com/in/cyril-ndegeya-244026b6). But I saw people with Belgian passports.

Pretty interesting article. Kigali was only the 12th market in Sub-Saharan Africa not served from CDG. I didn't see him in the top 3, but in the top 12 that makes many markets. At a glance, I can't see Maputo, Seychelles, Cape Verde (soon to be connected with the TACV), Durban, Moroni, Kilimanjaro, Windhoek, Mombasa (formerly served from Orly with Corsair), Entebbe. I am at 10 with Kigali. Then I don't see Lusaka, Harare, Monrovia or Lilongwe being on the list.

The article says that Paris represents a bigger market for connecting and Brussels for point-to-point. Taking into account RwandAir's network **(both point-to-point and transit):

** Brazzaville, Cape Town, Douala, Entebbe, Harare, Johannesburg, Lagos, Libreville, Lusaka, and Nairobi.

O&D 640,000 on departure from CDG including O&D Kigali CDG: 14,000 in 2022
O&D 190,000 on departure from Brussels including O&D Kigali BRU: 56,000 in 2019

Departing from Brussels Kigali is the 4th market in Sub-Saharan Africa after Dakar, Kinshasa, and Johannesburg. In 2019, 40,000 passengers traveled between Kigali and Brussels, the majority of them on SN. SN had more weekly flights (still the case : 5 for SN and 3 for WB, but in 2019 it was 6 for SN and 2-3 for WB).

Note that the check in in Brussels opens and closes earlier (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.) because of the long queues at the Police. We see the result, the flight arrived almost on time at CDG yesterday. While Tuesday and Thursday it landed with almost 2 hours late!!

https://simpleflying.com/rwandair-paris ... tinations/

[rwandan-flyer]

Malawi Airlines announced on its Facebook page, the launch of a route between Lilongwe (Malawi) and Kigali. No info about frequencies and launch date. RwandAir had LLW in its sights a few years ago. Local traffic is quite low (just over 2,148 pax) and even if there are "many" Rwandans living in Malawi (but for the majority they are refugees from the civil war and the Genocide against the Tutsi of 1994) . But O&D can increase with direct flights

What Malawi Airlines can bring to Kigali are connections to Johannesburg (O&D to Kigali of 41,028 pax in 2019), Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania (O&D of 31,131 pax in 2019), Lusaka in Zambia (O&D 18,112 pax in 2019) and Harare in Zimbabwe (7,890 pax in 2019). Which makes an O&D of 98,161 pax (100,000 pax if we add KGL-LLW). I did not put Nairobi Kgl (115,000 pax) because it was a big detour. As for Kigali, even though Malawi Airlines has Ethiopian Airlines as a strategic partner, an agreement with RwandAir could enable to Malawi Airlines to tap into pax from RwandAir.

Note that between 1999 and 2001, Ethiopian operated a tag service Addis Ababa-Kigali-Lilongwe.

Too bad for my brother who could have taken advantage of this direct route because he made almost ten trips to Malawi between 2007 and 2012 with some stops via Kigali for a few days.

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Another surprising info. Atlanta airport has targeted destinations in Africa: Casablanca, Entebbe, Abuja, Kinshasa and...Kigali. The American authorities are promising incentive offers worth several hundred thousand dollars. About Kigali, the airport wants to bring in RwandAir. The status is courting airlines, so we can consider that the market analysis is complete. https://www.globalatlanta.com/hartsfiel ... -and-asia/

I don't believe it. The O&D between ATL and KGL is low (see below) and even if the O&D between the USA and Kigali exceeds 35,000 pax if we take the O&D of more than 1,000 pax per year (more than 45,000 pax if we add Canada). The competition is too big and even with connecting traffic via Kigali on some of the biggest American markets in Africa (Kenya, South Africa or Tanzania), even an agreement with Delta Airlines and a tag servicr via ACC or Abuja (The airport of ATL wishes to see this destination) will surely not be enough.

After the CEO of RwandAir said last week that the USA was obviously part of RwandAir's plans again (unfortunately article for subscribers, if someone could give us a summary), as well as the return of the of possible arrival of the A350s to replace the A330s. RwandAir had planned to serve New York via Accra. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/ ... -us-routes.

Rwanda has Cat 1 FAA so flights between Rwanda and USA could start at any times


Canada :

Montreal - Kigali : 4 812 (KGL makes one of the 25 markets requested froù Montreal via Dubai, even though EK doesn't serve Kigali. Only RwandAir operates the route: https://simpleflying.com/emirates-boein ... -montreal/
Toronto - Kigali : 4 254
Ottawa - Kigali : 2 791
Edmonton - Kigali: 1 242

USA:

New York-Kigali: 8 574
Washington-Kigali: 8 080
Boston-Kigali: 4 092
Chicago - Kigali : 3 313
Los Angeles - Kigali : 2 290
Dallas FW - Kigali : 2 269
Kigali San Francisco: 2 039
Atlanta - Kigali : 1 682
Houston - Kigali : 1 574
Denver - Kigali : 1 407

[britishaviation]

I see someone has updated RwandAir’s Wikipedia page to say 2 A330neos will be delivered in 2024. I assume this is someone trolling?

[rwandan-flyer]

No info about this, the 3 A330s are currently enough. 9XR-WX didn't fly since 28Jul23. Lagos and Dubai flights were reduced (but DXB will back to the daily next month). Mumbai was planned to back to 3 times a week(but still 2 times a week) and they have scrapped the night flight to Dar Es Salaam.

I think they still lack pilots because the 5th B737-800 planned to join the fleet this month is still in Hungary and they are still looking for pilots. And the B737-800 9XR-WG (Addis Ababa) and B737-700 9XR-WK (Cairo) were in maintenance all this month. They are now back in Kigali.



Major growth will happen once the deal with Qatar Airways wil be signed...but talks take a long time.

[rwandan-flyer]

With Brussels Kigali that becomes daily from summer 2024, all Europeans destinations will be served daily next year from Kigali (except Paris CDG). This is the first ime in Rwanda History.

Brussels Airlines flights to Kigali, every day. It will be interesting if the 2 more weekly flights will be tagged via BJM or EBB or even not tagged and NON stop in the both ways. Or either via Nairobi.

KLM plans to back to daily service to Kigali, from next summer season as the airline operates currently 6 flights a week in summer and 5 in the winter, using mainly A330-200s

Turkish Airways keeps serving Kigali daily from Istanbul with a mix of Boeing 737s and A330s

RwandAir will serve London Heathrow daily.

London Heathrow : daily flight
Amsterdam : daily flight
Istanbul : daily flights
Brussels : daily flights with SN and 3 times a week with RwandAir
Paris Cdg : 3 flights a week

Pre covid capacity to Europe are now exceeds in term of seat and flights

Any room for a 4rd European carriers in medium term ? Who knows Lufthansa or Discover Airlines ? Betting to the fact that point to point market will increase and also providing huge connecting via FRA. Rwanda was among the German Empire from 1880s 1910s.

Visit Rwanda is proud to be an Official Platinum Partner of FC Bayern (Munich) and the club’s Official Tourism partner for East, Central & Southern Africa until 2028. https://www.visitrwanda.com/bayern-munich/

[rwandan-flyer]

On this article from a Turkish Aviation Website about the hub of Qatar Airways Cargo in Rwanda published one month ago, there is a map showing current and future destinations from Kigali. Nairobi, Entebbe, Lagos, Johannesburg (served by RwandAir with pax flights) are already served by RwandAir Cargo either with the ULS A310F or the RwandAir Cargo B737-800F. However, Lusaka, Harare and Windhoek are on the map as next destinations from Kigali. HRE and LUN are already served by RwandAir (pax flights). Note that Brazzaville and Sharjah are missing as RwandAir cargo destination and also Kano (Nigeria)

https://www-aeroportist-com.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp

[Conti764]

Planning a holiday at my wife's motherland Rwanda next summer. Rwandair 3800 euro r/t for 3 adults (13yo son included) and 1 child. SN 5000 euro

These are of course 'direct' flights in the sense of not having to transfer. Other options (TK, ET,...) have unfavourable arrival hours (passed midnight) and QR is too much of a detour.

How is Rwandair's service compared to SN's?

[rwandan-flyer]

I would say 50 / 50. Both have premium eco.

I know SkyTraxx has not good reputation among Avgeeks (but not outside Avgeeks community), but both airlines are 3 stars SkyTrax and RwandAir is ranked 90th and Brussels Airlines 100th, in the 2023 SkyTrax Ranking.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/

The RwandAir flight from Bru to Kgl or from Kigali to Bru is operated during the night, for some people it can be important even there is not a big jetlag between Belgium and Rwanda. Don't forget that the RwandAir makes a stop at CDG, but the stop is only 1hr and after struggled during the first weeks of ops. Flights are almost on time.

With Ethiopian you arrive in the middle of the day at Kigali. If you take the midnight flight to and from Kgl the layover at ADD is very big, so i don't think that Ethiopian will select this routing for you in priority. This flight is better for pax flying between Rwanda and W Africa, Brasil and USA with the stop at Lome. Not really for pax flying btw Europe and Rwanda since LH ended its flights to ADD.

At Kigali, you have to be screened before to enter into the terminal. And you can enter 3hrs before the departure of the fligt, if i m not a mistake. The SN flight leaves Kigali around 20h-20h30 (either via EBB and soon via NBO). On some days, it can be busy with several RwandAir flights leaving Kgl

Mumbai, Dubai, Doha, Johannesburg, London that will become daily, Entebbe and CDG.

SN and KLM leave Kgl earlier it's probably less busy despite the you can have KQ flight. But Kgl Airport is quite small and has good reputation.

[Conti764]

I would say 50 / 50. Both have premium eco.

I know SkyTraxx has not good reputation among Avgeeks (but not outside Avgeeks community), but both airlines are 3 stars SkyTrax and RwandAir is ranked 90th and Brussels Airlines 100th, in the 2023 SkyTrax Ranking.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worl ... ines-2023/

The RwandAir flight from Bru to Kgl or from Kigali to Bru is operated during the night, for some people it can be important even there is not a big jetlag between Belgium and Rwanda. Don't forget that the RwandAir makes a stop at CDG, but the stop is only 1hr and after struggled during the first weeks of ops. Flights are almost on time.

With Ethiopian you arrive in the middle of the day at Kigali. If you take the midnight flight to and from Kgl the layover at ADD is very big, so i don't think that Ethiopian will select this routing for you in priority. This flight is better for pax flying between Rwanda and W Africa, Brasil and USA with the stop at Lome. Not really for pax flying btw Europe and Rwanda since LH ended its flights to ADD.

At Kigali, you have to be screened before to enter into the terminal. And you can enter 3hrs before the departure of the fligt, if i m not a mistake. The SN flight leaves Kigali around 20h-20h30 (either via EBB and soon via NBO). On some days, it can be busy with several RwandAir flights leaving Kgl

Mumbai, Dubai, Doha, Johannesburg, London that will become daily, Entebbe and CDG.

SN and KLM leave Kgl earlier it's probably less busy despite the you can have KQ flight. But Kgl Airport is quite small and has good reputation.

Thanks for the elaborate info.