RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2022

[rwandan-flyer]

Egytpair will add a 3rd weekly flight to Kigali, starting December 12, 2022.

This is probably the "rising" route from Kigali . Route launched one before the covid, suspended from March 2020. But it returns in October 2020 with one flight per week before returning to 2 flights per week in mid-2021. The route was supposed to open in 2011, but was postponed following the Arab Spring.

I wonder which are the most popular destinations from & to Kigali, because in the Kigali-Cairo-rest of the world leg, there are few choices of "direct" connecting in Cairo. There are the second flights of the day at the end of the day to LHR and CDG operated by Egyptair and connecting to hhe Middle East.

About the Star Alliance, there are flights at the end of the day or the beginning of the evening on VIE with Austrian, Athens with Aegean (but an arrival at ATH late in the evening, therefore no connection to ATH) and a flight from LH on FRA which leaves at 4:45 p.m., 3 times a week. Then Turkish Airlines and Ethiopian thanks to the code share with Egytpair on ADD-KGL

These are the main alternatives to then go to Asia, Europe or North America. But the airline has found its market. By the way, Kigali and Cairo were linked in the past by Air France and La Sabena, but I don't know if they could sell tickets between these 2 cities

[sn26567]

From 06 November 2022, RwandAir will split its Kigali-London Heathrow-Brussels route. From November 6, 2022, London Heathrow will be served without the stop via Brussels, still 3 times a week. Same thing with BRU.

Are you sure about the three flights a week to Brussels? I thought it would be reduced to two flights a week from 6 November.

[nordikcam]

From 06 November 2022, RwandAir will split its Kigali-London Heathrow-Brussels route. From November 6, 2022, London Heathrow will be served without the stop via Brussels, still 3 times a week. Same thing with BRU.

Are you sure about the three flights a week to Brussels? I thought it would be reduced to two flights a week from 6 November.

Flights Rwandair BRU KGL are scheduled Days 2 and 6 ! So 2 times a week

[rwandan-flyer]

In deed, BRU will be served 2 times a week iso 3 times. Less flights, but at least all the plane seats will be available for all passengers departing or arriving at BRU

[Kapitein]

The mistery continues.
I've got them still 3x week but in combination with CDG.

[rwandan-flyer]

The mistery continues.
I've got them still 3x week but in combination with CDG.

Where did you find the stop at CDG, i can't find it on RwandAir website.

RwandAir statement about the launching of non-stop flights to London Heathrow.They will add a 4th weekly flight to meet the high demand. Well the loads seem to be high, but do they make money ?

https://www.rwandair.com/media-center/n ... nd-kigali/

1st 737-800F for RwandAir seen in Kelowna, Canada, this month. Zooming in, I believe the reg is still Irish. EI-GYU ex TUI Airways built in 2007. Ferry flight in February 2022 from Shannon to Kelowna for conversion to cargo version https://www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Re ... YU/1046593

[Kapitein]

The mistery continues.
I've got them still 3x week but in combination with CDG.

Where did you find the stop at CDG, i can't find it on RwandAir website.

These where slotrequests, but it doesn't mean they gonna fly it ofcourse

[rwandan-flyer]

Thanks for the info


RwandAir will again offer a daily flight to Lagos (Nigeria), from the 1st week of November 2022. For the moment, the company has been operating 5 flights per week since the covid pandemic. Mix of A330-200 / 300 and B737-800NG. For the moment daily flights are scheduled almost in A330.

That probably why Dubai-Kigali will be served 11 times a week by 737-800. Flights to DXB are also operated in A330, but with 2 A330s, to BRU, LHR, LOS and DXB It's tight,


In the African Aerospace: October - December 2022: RwandAir will add a new A330, for the end of 2022. A Ceo or a Neo ? Confirmation of the arrival of a cargo plane (B737-800F)

The airline had also planned to add planes in mid-2022. Probably for 2023? According to sources, either an order from RwandAir or a fleet transfert from Qatar Airways, that's probably why the arrival of the planes has been postponed. Nothing has been decided.

London spilt with Brussels to enable to Brussels to be tagged with Paris.

I now understand why there are many job offers on the RwandAir site.

Bugesera Airport, the first phase of the project will be operational from 2026. Here we mean all the infrastructure to accommodate a maximum of 8 million pax, but an opening probably before 2026, with an expansion of the terminal step by step

Page 19-20 https://www.timesaerospace.aero/sites/a ... ml#page=23

[rwandan-flyer]

A RwandAir Q400NG run off from the runway this morning at Kamembe (Rwanda). Evryone is safe.

I don't know if they have cane trucks to remove the plane at Cyrngugu / Kamembe (probably the army ?). They will probably need to bring one from Kigali. Kamembe is located at 243 km from Kigali. Rwanda has a good road network, but it will probably take time remove the plane.

This Kigali Kamembe route is popular for people going or leaving Bukavu (Congolese Traders, NGO staff), but also for tourist who want to visit Nyungwe Forest.

By the way, the CRJ, which run off from the runway in Entebbe in April 2022, has still not returned. He would still be in Entebbe in a shed. So it's means 2 planes from the regional fleet of RwandAir are grounded out 4 planes. With daily flights to Dar Es Salaam, Nairobi, Entebbe, Bujumbura, Kamembe and weekly to Kilimanjaro. It's starting to get tight.

DAR, NBO and EBB can have some flights in 737 the demand is high.


Translate from Kinyarwanda to English https://radiotv10-rw.translate.goog/ind ... r_pto=wapp



The airport is surrounded by mountains with a 1 500m Asphalt runway. A pix from a jump seat. Not an easy airport to land. I landed there in 2010, with a RwandAir Dash 100 leased from ALS Airlines (Kenya)

[rwandan-flyer]

Qatar Airways will lease 8 slots to RwandAir. This means 4 arrivals and 4 departures per week from this winter. I guess this is in addition to the slots that RwandAir already has. Does this mean that RwandAir wil add more flights to London Heathrow? More Kigali-LHR flights for the Christmas holidays ? https://twitter.com/SeanM1997/status/15 ... 7005972480


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Boeing or Airbus fwith ull business / full first class still common sight in Rwanda. This time it's an Icelandair B757 flying for Abercrombie & Kent which landed last Saturday in Kigali. 70 high-end tourists . USD 200,000 per person for a world tour that includes 20 countries. Economic benefits for Rwanda: 2,000,000 USD. Money that is generally allocated to communities that live of tourism industry around national parks https://taarifa.rw/abercrombie-kent-bri ... qIlpQQeXkM

With the premium traffic due to conferences (currently there is at least one conference almost every week or even 2 sometimes) and the high-end tourists, Rwanda is probably a destination with a high yield. The demand for economy class, is probably not high to attract more airlines right now.


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Rwanda Airports (RAC) @RwandaAirports 6h

UPDATE:

Kigali International Airport wins the Best @ACI_Africa Safety Management System Award in the Central African Region.

The award was received by MD @habonima and @RwandaAirports Delegation during a ceremony held on the sidelines of the ongoing #WAGA2022 in Marrakech

https://twitter.com/RwandaAirports/stat ... 5004454912

[rwandan-flyer]

The Kigali-Paris route operated by RwandAir is scheduled to open on December 1, 2022.

The 737-800 freighter should be registered 9XR-WX. Its first flight is scheduled for Kigali Entebbe on October 31, 2022, meaning delivery this weekend. But it will be right, there are some issues to resolve.


Kigali Johannesburg route will have from 10 flights per week to 13 flights per week at the beginning of November 2022. It's the almost same the capacities before covid on JNB. There were at 2 flights a day.

The daylight flight will still be operated via Lusaka and the non-stop night flight between Kigali and Johannesburg. The company suddenly decided not to put more flights on Dubai. As a result, London Heathrow, Doha, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lusaka, Harare will see the number of flights increase from November 2022.

RWANDA AIRLINES: Nigerian Customers Account For 44% of Our Total Revenue https://rwanda-podium.org/?RWANDA-AIRLI ... al-Revenue

[britishaviation]

How exciting. Please can you share details of 1 December start date for Paris. Where has this been confirmed?

[rwandan-flyer]

How exciting. Please can you share details of 1 December start date for Paris. Where has this been confirmed?

Seen this on Roissy Airport group on Facebook.

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2nd visit in just over 2 years for a Lufthansa Group executive. In February 2020, the CEO of Lufthansa and Lusthansa Group Carsten Spohr came to Rwanda. At the time he was excited to see the new Kigali airport seeing Rwanda as a promising market with Lufthansa Group expansion plans in Rwanda. Lufthansa has a maintenance base in Kigali with Lufthansa Technik for RwandAir and Lufthansa Systems has a patnership with RwandAir

Interview with Carsten Spohr


Lufthansa Group upbeat on Rwanda’s new airport

German airline, Lufthansa Group, is upbeat on the move by Rwanda to establish a new and modern airport in Bugesera District saying that it will speed up growth of the aviation industry and opportunities for players such as themselves. https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/1743 ... ew-airport

Today iyt's Peter Gaerber the CEO of Brussels Airlines and the European representative of the Lufthansa Group who is in Rwanda. It seems that the women is Christina Foerster ex CEO of Brussels Airlines who is now a member of the board of Lufthansa Group as Chief Customer Officer. The gentleman with the glasses, I don't know who he is but he was with Carsten Spohr in 2020 at Kigali.

Courtesy visit ? Announcements of commercial offers or partnerships with local tour operators? Negotiations for the arrival of Lufthansa or Eurowings in Rwanda? Or for a conference, there are 8 planned in Rwanda this month: https://rcb.rw/-11-November-.html.

The 2 airlines of two former colonial empires of Rwanda are represented. Germany having colonized Rwanda before the 1st World War. I learned recently that Air Zaire operated a Kigali Frankfurt flight once a week in the 1970s. https://amateka.net/rpp/Rwanda%20pays%2 ... el%20V.pdf

The CEO of Brussels Airlines Peter Gerber and the team he leads paid homage to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and were buried at the Kigali Memorial on Gisozi. https://twitter.com/flashfmrw/status/15 ... 8754262016

[rwandan-flyer]

Today iyt's Peter Gaerber the CEO of Brussels Airlines and the European representative of the Lufthansa Group who is in Rwanda. It seems that the women is Christina Foerster ex CEO of Brussels Airlines who is now a member of the board of Lufthansa Group as Chief Customer Officer. The gentleman with the glasses, I don't know who he is but he was with Carsten Spohr in 2020 at Kigali.

Courtesy visit ? Announcements of commercial offers or partnerships with local tour operators? Negotiations for the arrival of Lufthansa or Eurowings in Rwanda? Or for a conference, there are 8 planned in Rwanda this month: https://rcb.rw/-11-November-.html.

The 2 airlines of two former colonial empires of Rwanda are represented. Germany having colonized Rwanda before the 1st World War. I learned recently that Air Zaire operated a Kigali Frankfurt flight once a week in the 1970s. https://amateka.net/rpp/Rwanda%20pays%2 ... el%20V.pdf

The CEO of Brussels Airlines Peter Gerber and the team he leads paid homage to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and were buried at the Kigali Memorial on Gisozi. https://twitter.com/flashfmrw/status/15 ... 8754262016

They meet Rwandan President, They discussed opportunities to expand their work in Rwanda. My bet is that an airline (SN not included) from the group will come in Rwanda.

It's not a common sight to see airlines CEO in Rwanda. In 2011 when Temal Kotil came to Kigali to see Kagame. Turkish Airlines then started its route in 2012 to Kigali

President Kagame meets Mr. Temel Kotil, CEO/Turkish Airlines- Kigali, 25 July 2011 https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulkagam ... 278421434/

In 2012 Al Baker was at Kigali, for the first Qatar Airways flight to Kigali. KGL is not a big market, i guess he was probably interested to invest into Rwandan aviation.

Qatar Airways Continues Africa Expansion Drive Launching Flights To Rwanda https://www.qatarairways.com/en-no/pres ... 20324.html

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkbgYJ2AFvm/

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir’s Grand Plan to Connect Africa Still Waiting on Qatar Airways Investment https://airlineweekly.com/2022/11/rwand ... nvestment/
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Rwanda, Barbados aviation deal 'to boost trade' https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/2474 ... oost-trade
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PHOTOS: 7nov22
The 25th Meeting of the Africa-Indian Ocean Planning and Implementation Regional Group #APIRG25 and Eighth Meeting of the Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG-AFI/8) opens today at @kigaliserena

https://twitter.com/RwandaAirports/stat ... 7872351232
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An interesting interview with the head of Egytpair in Rwanda explaining the reasons for adding a 3rd weekly flight to Kigali.

Stronger demand to Kigali since the Commonwealth summit in June 2022.

Very good load factor between June-September with full planes. Full I think he means that the pax going or returning to Kigali represented a big part of the load factor. The flight is operated via Entebbe which is also served on some days without the stop in Kigali

A growing point-to-point demand between Egypt and Rwanda. Since several years, twice a year, the Egypt & Middle East Expo has been held every year in Kigali, which lasts almost 1 month. The next one starts this week. In May 2022, the Egypt-Rwanda business forum was held with the presence of 100 Rwandan companies http://www.mti.gov.eg/English/MediaCent ... Cairo.aspx

Egytpair is happy that the Kigali airport has been expanded and can handle 7 flights at the same time (medium and long haul at the same time). The fact also that he did not need to go to the headquarters of the Rwandan CAA to make the request to add flights to Kigali. He stayed in his office, there is a specific portal on the Rwanda civil aviation website. He explains that this is not the case on all the African stopovers of Egytpair

EgyptAir and RwandAir “enjoy friendly working relations.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/2534 ... -to-kigali

[sn26567]

RwandAir is to take delivery soon of one Boeing 737-800SF, MSN 35131, on lease from Merx Aviation (US), now that the conversion is complete. Before conversion, this aircraft flew for TUI Airways (UK).

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir is to take delivery soon of one Boeing 737-800SF, MSN 35131, on lease from Merx Aviation (US), now that the conversion is complete. Before conversion, this aircraft flew for TUI Airways (UK).

Yes and it won't be registered 9XR-WX. It will be the 3rd RwandAir A330-200.

The A330 is currently at Châteauroux (France). This is an ex Avianca Colombia delivered in 2011 to Avianca.

RwandAir sent its A330 (A330-200 9XR-WN) for the first time to Doha on November 16, 2022 (https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/wb300) instead of a 737-800 with tag service via Dubai. Probably because of the demand for the World Cup. RwandAir plans to go from 3 to 6 flights per week in less than 10 days to Kigali Doha. The 6 flights will remain after the world cup. Connections to Japan or South Korea will be reduced and for flights to Europe and the USA more choice on destinations served at least twice a day. The plane will no longer spend the day in Doha.

By the way the 2 CRJ-900NG of RwandAir are grounded. One in Uganda and another in Zimbabwe. The Q400 which crashed last month in Kamembe did not fly again and a 737 left the 9XR-WJ fleet. Reduced fleet, but planning carried out normally only Bombay saw its flights reduced from 3 to 2 flights per week. Return of 3 weekly flights in early December 2022. The arrival of the A330 will be good, it will free up the slot for the 737-800s flying to Dubai, Since 2 weeks the 2 A330s are now used on London Heathrow, Brussels and Lagos ( Nigeria). The 2 A330s crossing over Africa when one flies to BRU and the other returns from London. By waiting for the arrival of narrowbodies next year. My source says that could be B737 that was supposed to arrive this year, but which version ?

About the 737-700 9XR-WK for a conversion to freight, Info added since 2020 or 2021. But the plane is still config pax. The info has not been updated.






A Silk Way Airlines IL76 with the 20th anniversary sticker visiting Kigali this morning from Tel Aviv. Thanks to Krithik M for the photo. There was also a Sky Taxi 767-200F arriving last night in Kigali from Cairo. He's on his way to Ostrava right now. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/sp-mrf

[britishaviation]

Has anyone heard anything on Paris?

[rwandan-flyer]

Has anyone heard anything on Paris?

I think it's linked to the arrival of the 3rd A330. Currently the 2 A330 can't fly to Dubai where the demand is high because both A330s are busy to fly to London, Brussels and Lagos. With the B737-800 there are some bags stranded at Dubai or Kigali and passengers are not happy. Almost same thing with Mumbai where the B737-800 needs to make a fuel stop at Mombasa: longest flight and can't operate fully loaded from Kigali to Mumbai.

[freakyboy2021]

RwandAir is to take delivery soon of one Boeing 737-800SF, MSN 35131, on lease from Merx Aviation (US), now that the conversion is complete. Before conversion, this aircraft flew for TUI Airways (UK).

Yes and it won't be registered 9XR-WX. It will be the 3rd RwandAir A330-200.

The A330 is currently at Châteauroux (France). This is an ex Avianca Colombia delivered in 2011 to Avianca.

RwandAir sent its A330 (A330-200 9XR-WN) for the first time to Doha on November 16, 2022 (https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/wb300) instead of a 737-800 with tag service via Dubai. Probably because of the demand for the World Cup. RwandAir plans to go from 3 to 6 flights per week in less than 10 days to Kigali Doha. The 6 flights will remain after the world cup. Connections to Japan or South Korea will be reduced and for flights to Europe and the USA more choice on destinations served at least twice a day. The plane will no longer spend the day in Doha.

By the way the 2 CRJ-900NG of RwandAir are grounded. One in Uganda and another in Zimbabwe. The Q400 which crashed last month in Kamembe did not fly again and a 737 left the 9XR-WJ fleet. Reduced fleet, but planning carried out normally only Bombay saw its flights reduced from 3 to 2 flights per week. Return of 3 weekly flights in early December 2022. The arrival of the A330 will be good, it will free up the slot for the 737-800s flying to Dubai, Since 2 weeks the 2 A330s are now used on London Heathrow, Brussels and Lagos ( Nigeria). The 2 A330s crossing over Africa when one flies to BRU and the other returns from London. By waiting for the arrival of narrowbodies next year. My source says that could be B737 that was supposed to arrive this year, but which version ?

About the 737-700 9XR-WK for a conversion to freight, Info added since 2020 or 2021. But the plane is still config pax. The info has not been updated.






A Silk Way Airlines IL76 with the 20th anniversary sticker visiting Kigali this morning from Tel Aviv. Thanks to Krithik M for the photo. There was also a Sky Taxi 767-200F arriving last night in Kigali from Cairo. He's on his way to Ostrava right now. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/sp-mrf

the aircraft info is great, May I ask how to check those information ?