RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2022

[rwandan-flyer]

MP Sent

A long flight for this 321Neo, between Kigali and London Stansted. This is the British government's A321Neo, a highly criticized flight. Make a research Rwanda United Kingdom in google and you will understand why this flight is under the fire of criticism from the international press.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-gbni

I read earlier about this British Government's policy and I wanted to ask you privately what you think about it (I personally think it's horrible). But since it has little to do with aviation, I abstained.

[rwandan-flyer]

Finally Arkia has also operated a flight to Kigali the same day that RwandAir operated by the B737-800 9XR-WR. There were 2 flights from TLV to KGL on 16 April 2022

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/iz623


A RwandAir CRJ-900NG (9XR-WI) operating a flight Kigali-Nairobi-Entebbe-Kigali was involved in a runway excursion as a result of bad weather at Entebbe.

All passengers and flight crew left the plane with no reported injuries, the airline confirmed in a statement.

Maybe soon a notification on Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Directorate General (The Rwandan NTSB) https://aaidportal.mininfra.gov.rw/aaid ... x.php?id=1

[sn26567]

RwandAir CRJ900 skids off runway at Entebbe airport, due to bad weather.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/rwan ... e-airport/

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir CRJ900 skids off runway at Entebbe airport, due to bad weather.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/rwan ... e-airport/

Thanks.

More infos

The plane was planned to fly to Cape Town via Harare (Kigali-HRE-CPT). It is the CRJ-900NG 9XR-WH which makes the flight.

There were 60 passengers on board. The plane was operating its daily tag Kigali-Nairobi-Entebbe-Kigali (night flight). http://avherald.com/h?article=4f7ada98& ... gA4yX0iF90

Entebbe Airport has 2 runways. The second is smaller so only "regional" planes were able to use it. The main runway is now reopened. https://twitter.com/UCAA_Spokesman/stat ... Hx2owqAAAA.

RwandAir posted a new press release a few hours ago explaining that its crews are trained to fly in severe weather conditions. They say that they will work with Ugandan, Rwandan and I assume Canadian, Japanese (Canadian-made aircraft but now onwed by Japanese) and American authorities.

https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 5277221890

Some draw a parallel with an Ethiopian Airlines B737-800 which went off the runway at Entebbe in 2019. But without having a minimum of data, it's not impossible to know what happened, knowing that the causes may be different (human error or technical problem / weather conditions) https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/03/afri ... index.html

In 2013, a RwandAir 737-800 operating a Dubai Kigali flight experienced a similar story in Kigali. I unfortunately did not see a report and thus I do not know why the plane skid off from the runway: https://twitter.com/mwasa/status/401664 ... 36/photo/1 & https:// www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/91661

[sn26567]

Rwanda signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with New Zealand to facilitate air services between the two countries.

Really? How big is the market?

[rwandan-flyer]

Rwanda signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with New Zealand to facilitate air services between the two countries.

Really? How big is the market?

Most Bilateral Air Service Agreement didn't lead to the start of regular flights. In the region, only Australia can have flights to Africa.

Qantas served Zimbabawe till early 2000s. They serve South Africa. Egyptair served Australia in 1990s, while South African Airways served Sydney and Perth and Air Mauritius served Melbourne and Sydney. They now serve Perth.

Of course some people bet that Ethiopian Airlines could serve Australia one day.

But with the strong presence of Middle East carriers in Africa, it's will be hard to have more direct flights between Africa and Australia.

South Africans and Mauritians are among the biggest African diaspora in Australia. But there are also many Egyptians, Somalians, Sudanese and Zimbabweans people. I have a family in Australia and their Nany / cleaner was a Mauritian lady. Her son lived in Perth. I spoke French with her, altough my uncle speaks French but not my Aunty and my cousins.

Many have fleed their country due to the war or the arrival of Mandela and Robert Mugabe in power in SA and ZIM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Australians (400 000 Afro Australians)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_New_Zealanders (15 800 Afro New Zealanders)

[rwandan-flyer]

More info about the deal between New Zealand and Rwanda

https://www.facebook.com/NZEmbassyEthio ... SzVfaU6Tml

ANZ and RwandAir can work on commercial partnership: code share or interline https://theaviator.co.ug/rwanda-and-new ... agreement/

Another deal with Cuba. Few chance to have flights. Although I had talked about the fact that the Caribbean countries are strengthening their ties with African countries. TAAG Angola serves Cuba and Nigerian airlines have operated charter flights to Jamaica. Everything will depend on how the relations between these 2 regions of the world evolve. It should be noted that the Rwandan President made 2 visits to the region this month. One in Jamaica and another in Barbados.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwanda- ... -agreement

RwandAir celebrated this month its 5th anniversary of the launch of its flights to India, Zimbabwe and Abuja (Nigeria)

About Abuja, the RwandAir country manager says that RwandAir has transported more than 47,000 passengers since April 28, 2018. Hard to make an analysis. The number of flights have changed (especially during covid) sometimes the A330 was used and from March 2020 to September 2020, there were no flights. This flight is a tag service with Accra (Ghana). I didn't know if RwandAir had the 5th freedom between Accra and Abuja.

But the country manager seems to be happy.

In 2017, 1,600 passengers traveled between Kigali and Abuja. Note a surprise that the biggest majority of the 47,000 passengers are connecting pax https://www.anna.aero/2018/04/30/rwanda ... n-service/


Surely less popular than Sam Chui, but the Argentinian site Aviacionline made a London Heathrow-Johannesburg flight via Kigali this week. I don't know if they are going to make a long video, but we see videos where they walk around RwandAir planes.

They flew on the A330-200 returned from Doha this week. The A330-300 is at Doha since few days for maintenance.

https://twitter.com/aviacionline/status ... 1381508097 (under RwandAir A330 in Kigali)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cc3f7AjD ... _copy_link (pre-flight visit at Lusaka in Zambia around the B737-800)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc01mkkucIK ... _copy_link (business class not very crowded.)

[rwandan-flyer]

During the RPF meeting that took place last week, people complained that due to lack of cargo service and refrigeration chambers.probably near the airport are main main obstacles to the export of agricultural products from Rwanda.

The President of Rwanda has said that RwandAir has found a cargo airplane through Qatar Airways, A RwandAir Cargo B777F ? B737-300 / 400 / 800 F ? A321F ? B767F ? B757F ? A330F ?

About refrigeration chambers, the supposed site will be useda vaccine factory because it is very urgent

Translation from Kinyarwanda to English (only the part where they talk about cargo)

Rwanda on its way to getting cargo planes

One of the key decisions taken at the RPF Inkotanyi General Assembly on April 30, 2022, was to increase the size of exports, to find available aircrafts and to increase refrigeration chambers.

At the meeting, businesswoman Marie Ange Ingabire, was one of the main obstacles to the export of agricultural products.

He heads Tropi Wanda Ltd, a company that focuses on exports of agricultural products including seeds and lawyers.

He started shipping five tonnes a week for Lawyer, and now he has arrived at one ton sending 20 tonnes.

He just pointed out that there is still a problem with aircrafts and refrigeration chambers.

He said he once saw a tender to send ten tons of Advocate, but he reached out to RwandAir and was told that their capacity was only to carry five tons.

On the other hand, even if these seeds and vegetables are exported before they are exported, there is a high risk that they could be damaged because there are no refrigerators available to store them for years.

President Kagame said the issue had been discussed for a long time, but that it needed to be resolved urgently.

Clare Akamanzi, head of the Rwanda Development Board, RDB, said she was aware of the problem, with RwandAir initially having a problem with where to remove the cargo plane.

"The information I have now is that the plane was found through Qatar Airways," he said.

The agreement will improve Qatar Airways' 49% stake in RwandAir. These airlines have come a long way in integrating performance and service.

The government is also working on a solution to the problem of building refrigeration chambers, but the site of the project has been given to those who need to build a vaccine factory because it is very urgent. There is now a search for a place to build those rooms.

https://igihe.com/amakuru/u-rwanda/arti ... vrmyFrnlMA

[rwandan-flyer]

Kenya Airways returns to daily early June 2022, all flights will be operated by ERJ 190 or B737-800. JamboJet currently has no plans to return to Kigali and Entebbe. Before covid Kenya Airways and its low cost Jambojet operated 3-4 flights a day. With RwandAir it was 6-7 flights a day between Nairobi and Kigali.

There it will be 4 flights per day: 3 with RwandAir and 1 with Kenya Airways.


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About the fridges that traders requesred to store products before being exported:

Ministry of Agriculture & Animal Resources |Rwanda

@RwandaAgri

Earlier today, The Minister of State @Ngabitsinze visited Kigali International Airport in a bid to inspect cold rooms for fresh produce export to ensure improved and adequate services. He was received by the Chief Executive Officer of @FlyRwandAir @FlyRwandAir @YvonneMakolo. #AgriUpdatesRw

https://twitter.com/RwandaAgri/status/1 ... 5959141377


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Not a RwandAir habit, but a lot of delays since few days at RwandAir. A few days ago the Kigali-Bru-London flight was 12 hours late!! The advantage is that the plane left quickly London, so no day stop in London. Some few pbs to India. classic" problems like any airlines combined with the fact that the CRJ which skidded of the runway in Uganda has still not returned to Kigali and the A330-300 is in Check C in Doha since more than a week.

The A330-200 flies between Kigali-Lagos-Kigali or Kigali-Kinshasa-Lagos-FIH-KGL and flights to Europe in addition to UN flights for the Rwandan army. In India and Dubai, cargo demand is high and the A330 cannot be deployed, so some baggage remain in Kigali, Dubai or Mumbai.

Small fleet + big delays = mess.

[sn26567]

Not a RwandAir habit, but a lot of delays since a few days at RwandAir. A few days ago the Kigali-Bru-London flight was 12 hours late!! The advantage is that the plane left quickly London, so no day stop in London.

This flight took off from Brussels in the middle of the night and was reported by the airport ombudsman for noise due to take-off with a non-authorised plane during a non-authorised slot.

[rwandan-flyer]

Yes and i guess they will pay penalities.

[rwandan-flyer]

According to the Botswana press, RwandAir is considering to serve Gaborone. Botswana civil aviation is under discussion. If RwandAir serves GBE, there will necessarily tag service. In the region RwandAir would also target Maputo and Luanda, si probably a tag service via one of two cities or else via Lusaka. Johannesburg can be served non-stop (this is the case on the daily night flight).

To be continued.https://www.mmegi.bw/business/caab-in-t ... news-24986

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Saudia has extended its SV cide to Kigali from Nairobi. Maybe in the medium term, it could lead to new route from JED. To tap into the trafic from the United States, England and India to Rwanda. And aslo from , Germany and the Netherlands. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Rwanda were strengthened this month with the respective visits of the two foreign affairs ministries: one to Rwanda and the other to Saudi Arabia. Nexus Aero, is in Rwanda since more 10 years, they have created the very first fixed-wing aviation school in Rwanda.

Egyptair, KLM and Turkish Airlines started by doing code share on Kigali before to open their own toutes... They still offer code share to Kigali

Kenya Airways has extended its codeshare agreement with Saudia. The agreement will allow the SkyTeam alliance partners to offer additional services from their hubs in Nairobi (NBO) and Jeddah (JED). From Nairobi, codeshares will be available to Mombasa, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam and Kigali. From Jeddah, the agreement covers routes to Riyadh, Bahrain, Karachi and Kuwait. “The extension of the codeshare with Saudia will provide our customers with more choice and flexibility for travel this summer, especially for those travelling for the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage,” Kenya Airways chief commercial and customer officer Julius Thairu said. “The agreement is an opportunity for both airlines to work together to improve flight options and connectivity.”

https://www.ceoafrica.co.ke/kenya-airwa ... -airlines/

There is a duel between Algiers and Rabat on the Maghreb side and Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi on the Middle East side to win the biggest contracts in Rwanda.


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16 May 2022

Rwanda In Nigeria
@RwandainNigeria On behalf of @RwandaCAA, today, Amb. @KamanziS signed, with Captain Musa Nuhu, Director General @NigerianCAA
, a new MoU on technical cooperation in the field of flight safety standards.

#RwandainNigeria https://twitter.com/RwandainNigeria/sta ... fdha4qAAAA


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Network Airline Services Appointed as Sole Cargo GSSA for RwandAir in Scandinavia: https://network-airline.com/network-air ... n=RwandAir

[rwandan-flyer]

From June 11, 2022 to July 3, 2022, RwandAir will offer 5 flights per week between Kigali and London. 2 of the 5 flights per week will be operated non-stop (therefore no stopover in Brussels).

On Mondays the plane will depart from Kigali at 5:45 a.m. and return to Kigali at 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday. No connecting at this time in Kigali, probably targetting a point-to-point trafic between LHR and KGL (estimated at 23,240 pax in 2019: https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... k-lax-cun/) ahead the Commonwealth Summit in Kigali next month.

Sunday we are on a normal schedule departure in the evening from Kigali (and not in the middle of the night) arrival on Monday morning at LHR much earlier (6:45 a.m. instead of 12:30 p.m.). And an early evening departure from LHR for an early morning arrival in Kigali

RwandAir celebrates five years of flying to London

RwandAir is today celebrating five successful years of flying between London and Kigali.

The Rwandan flag carrier first launched flights from London Gatwick on 26 May 2017, before the airline switched flights to the UK’s busiest airport – London Heathrow – in 2020, to boost connections for those travelling from further afield.

Simon Rickman, RwandAir UK Country Manager, said: “This is a moment for celebration at RwandAir as we mark our fifth anniversary of flying to London.

“The UK is a very important market for us, with flights helping to reunite friends, deepen business ties and tourism links between the UK and Rwanda.

“We thank everyone who has chosen to travel with us over the last five years and all colleagues within the airline who have played their part to make this route such a success for us.”

Currently, RwandAir’s flights to London operate three times per week from London Heathrow’s Terminal 3, with a short stop in Brussels.

Next month, the flag carrier will be adding extra flights to London, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Rwanda for the first time.

The increased schedule will run between 11 June and 3 July and will offer customers select non-stop flights direct to Kigali with a 10% discount on all flights booked with the CHOGM10 promo code.

https://airlinergs.com/rwandair-celebra ... to-london/

[sn26567]

How come Rwanda is part of the Commonwealth? I thought only former British colonies were members?

[rwandan-flyer]

Mozambique is also member of Commonwealth, like Romania which is member of Francophonie.

When Rwanda joined Commonweatlh in 2009, diplomatic ties with France were cut and with Belgium not goods. They are both French speaking countries. France had played a rolde in Genocide against tutsi and Belgium is considered like the former colonial power that the set up ethnicity policy before the independance of Rwanda

After Genocide against tutsi, the new regime in Rwanda had straightened ties with English speaking countries such as USA and UK. Then India, Australia. Kagame made his military formation in USA and England has supported Rwanda to gain influence in the region against Belgium and France with their strong presence in Burundi, Zaire and Rwanda

Then many refugees who fled Rwanda in 1960s-70s have lived in Canada, UK and USA. When their children came back in Rwanda to re build the country many of them spoke English.

However in 2022 ties with France and Belgium are better and French Language has now "good reputation".

To come backl to the aviation and tourism. It's not a suprise if the 3 biggest market out Africa for Rwanda are: USA, UK and India. Belgium is behind, but i don't know if they are ahead Germany or behind.

[sn26567]

Why does DR Congo suspend RwandAir flights?

[Passenger]

Why does DR Congo suspend RwandAir flights?

Kind of a sanction:
https://7sur7.cd/index.php/2022/05/28/l ... -contre-le

[rwandan-flyer]

Why does DR Congo suspend RwandAir flights?

For about 25 years, the DRC has accused Rwanda of destabilizing the east of the region by supporting pro-Rwandan rebel groups (there are Rwandophones "Banyamulenge" people living in DRC since long before the independance). Rwanda says that some interventions are due to the presence in the DRC of former soldiers and militias (some supported by the DRC according to Rwanda) who participated in the Genocide against the Tutsis in 1994 and who had attempted to attack Rwanda several times.

It is difficult to know the financial impact this will have. The DRC is the biggest market for the Rwanda even if a significant part of the trade and the flows pass through the land borders which for the moment are still open.

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Akagera Aviation Academy graduates first cohort of pilots

The first cohort of commercial pilots graduated from Akagera Aviation Academy (AAA), on Thursday, May 26.

The pilots graduated after a two-year academic journey in a class that had two female pilots and 15 men.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/akagera ... ort-pilots

[rwandan-flyer]

Ethiopian is resuming its double daily service from early August 2022 on Kigali-Addis Ababa more than 2 years after the start of the pandemic. The airline, which has been present in Rwanda since 1975, only began serving Rwanda on a daily basis in 2006 before switching to double daily in 2010-2011. It also removes again the tag with Bujumbura on the daylight flight.

The night flight enabled to tap into the pax arriving from Frankfurt with Lufthansa. Flight arriving in the early evening at ADD. But Lufthansa seems to have closed the route to ADD due to covid**. However it seems that the traffic between West Africa and Rwanda (and probably a little bit point to point trafic ) as well as the India-Rwanda traffic is sufficient to maintain the daily night flight. Some flights between India and Ethiopia operate during the daylight.

** Currently, Air France remains the last company based in the European Union to serve the region. Indeed Lufthansa closed its routes to Sudan and Eritrea in the mid-2010s. KLM closed its routes to Ethiopia and Sudan also in the mid-2010s. And so LH seems to have closed its route to ADD. Turkish Airlines, a non-EU airline but European airline is now the big boss in the region, serving Somalia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Followed by airlines from the Middle East who pick up pax via Doha, Dubai or Jeddah.





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Unfortunately not a subscriber. But Qatar is still buying time

Qatar Airways puts bidders for $2bn Kigali airport in tailspin

Turkish, Qatari, Greek and Portuguese companies flocked to Doha to bid for the Kigali airport contract, but the shortlisted candidates, faced with new last-minute conditions, are nowhere near the end of the race. https://www.africaintelligence.com/east ... 785793-eve

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30 Mai 2022

Happening now, DG RCAA opened a 2 day workshop on the Cost Benefit Analysis of a continental Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS).

The workshop is attended by African member states Civil aviation experts and industry stakeholders in Kigali.@Afcac_Cafac
@_AfricanUnion
@EU_Commission
@ICAO
@IATA
@AfricanAirlines https://twitter.com/RwandaCAA/status/15 ... fP_r8qAAAA

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I had not seen this info, but RwandAir has an interline agreement with Vistara. Note that the senior manager of Vistara (John AJ Rocha) worked at RwandAir. I would not take any risk to say if there is a link and if the 2 airlines will work closer in the future.


We have partnered up with RwandAir to help you connect better. Flyers can now enjoy Vistara’s extensive network of domestic and international destinations including but not limited to New Delhi, Srinagar, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Kolkata, Udaipur, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, and Goa via Mumbai.

Alternatively, the services of RwandAir connect flyers from different Vistara cities to Kigali, via Mumbai.

Here’s to spreading the new feeling further! https://www.airvistara.com/fr/en/partne ... s/rwandair

[rwandan-flyer]

The Commonwealth Summit started yesterday. A few delegations have arrived. 3 (so far) have arrived with RwandAir

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa (PM of Samoa) getting off a RwandAir Q400NG. Surely an Auckland-Dubai-Nairobi flight with Emirates and Nairobi-Kigali with RwandAir https://twitter.com/Mamaurwagasabo1/sta ... 0821477376

Philip Davis (PM of the Bahamas) stepping off a RwandAir A330 from London: Nassau-LHR with British Airways and LHR-KGL with RwandAir. https://www.facebook.com/OURNewsREV/vid ... 306838974/

Siaosi Sovalen (PM of Tonga) stepping off a RwandAir B737-800 from Dubai. Surely a flight from Australia or New Zealand to Rwanda via Dubai. https://twitter.com/rbarwanda/status/15 ... 9062697986

There is also the PM of Antigua and Barbados, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives (cooperation agreements signed for air travel**) and the Prince the Princess of Wales who are arriving this evening. But I don't know what planes were used.


Minister Vincent Biruta met Ahmed Khaleel, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Maldives. Discussions focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation. Five agreements namely: General Cooperation, Air services, Tourism, Agriculture and Maritime transport were signed. https://www.facebook.com/RwandaMFA/post ... 7Wgm7Hz1Nl

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Our CEO Yvonne Makolo is set to become the first woman to serve as IATA’s chair of the board of governors from June 2023 after being named chair-elect at IATA's 78th Annual General Meeting in Doha. https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 7791972352

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Qatar Airways is seeking to send some if its B737-Max10s at one of its subsidiaries. We don't know the name of the airlines yet. Will RwandAir be this airline (a futur subsidiary). Either to replace its 6 B737NG (2,700 and 4,800). The 700s have been leased since 2013 and are 15 years old. The 737-800NG 9XR-WF and WG will be 11 years old this year and the other 2 have been leased since 2016 and 2017. Or either to add more capacity.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... subsidiary

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... subsidiary