RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2024

[sn26567]

RwandAir in 2020
RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2021
RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2022
RwandAir & Rwandan Aviation News 2023

[rwandan-flyer]

The equivalent of the Stabel in Rwanda has published its annual book. 2023 is marked, but these are the data for 2022. The good news is that traffic has almost returned to pre-covid levels.

Traffic increased from 494,955 pax in 2021 to 851,471 in 2022. The million mark will surely be reached again this year or during 2024. RwandAir is logically driving growth with the resumption of some routes and the opening of others, but its overall capacities are still below. Tel Aviv, Kinshasa Juba, and Guangzhou have disappeared from the network. We could add Dakar and Abidjan, but these 2 cities were served via the Cotonou base in Benin. It was not a “direct” leg, from Kigali.

Dar Es Salaam, Harare and Lusaka have not regained their pre-covid capacities, 2 flights per day. About Mumbai, there are 2 flights per week instead of 4 before Covid. Qatar Airways closed its line which was operated by B787 or A330 once a day (replaced by RwandAir with 3 then 6 flights per week by B737-800). KLM blocked at 5 flights per week, instead of one daily flight.

In 2019, there was an average of 54 flights per day (arrivals and departures) with peaks of 60 flights per day. We are currently around 50 flights per day on average. I do not include cargo, private/charter, military, aviation school or government flights

Thank you (also) to the other airlines. Egyptair which increased from 2 to 3 flights per week. Ethiopian which is again offering 2 flights per day. Kenya Airways which offers 3 flights per day on certain days. Brussels Airlines which offers 5 flights per week all year round. Turkish Airlines which is once again offering a daily flight but this time in a mix of B737-MAX8 and A330-200/300. For 2023, the trend will be growth and for 2024 the return to full 3 daily flights of Kenya Airways and Brussels Airlines which will pass on a daily basis.

Now the question is which will be the next airline to land in Rwanda. An African airline: Uganda Airlines? Air Tanzania? Malawi Airlines? Royal Air Morocco ? Or non-African airline ? Emirates (the A350 and B787 will be more suitable for Rwanda unlike the B777-300ER)? Lufthansa (the Lufthansa group is on fire in East Africa)?

Carsten Spohr who was in Rwanda eraly 2020 never hid his enthusiasm for Rwanda and saw it as a promising market for the Lufthansa Group. It was before covid, but nothing has changed https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/1743 ... ew-airport. Another delegation from Lufthansa Group visited Rwanda in late 2022 https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/luft ... rd-member/

Cargo after a decline in 2022 should return to green with the launch of the first RwandAir Cargo flights and the opening of the Qatar Airways Cargo hub in Rwanda

https://www.statistics.gov.rw/statistic ... l-yearbook

[rwandan-flyer]

Main O&D in Kigali post covid. It covers the period September 2022 to August 2023. So for the year 2023, it is not in full (4 months are missing) we would have to add several thousand more pax to complete the year 2023, on the most big O&D. In Brussels we are surely at more than 40,000 people, Nairobi again above 100,000 people,...

We are in Africa with fairly low traffic levels compared to Europe (with the exception of African powers: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt or Morocco for example).

For the majority of destinations, we have still not reached pre-Covid levels (especially in Africa, Asia and Oceania), but we are getting closer for some. It is interesting to see that there is a (small) progression in Europe and a big one in North America. Africa a little behind (even if in Africa the ranking is the same as before covid). In Asia and Oceania, traffic has collapsed (we exceeded 2,000 - 3,000 in Tokyo and Sydney for example), only Mumbai and Dubai are above than before covid.

Some surprises: Montreal and Geneva have greater demand than Frankfurt and Amsterdam (despite a direct flight with KLM). Dubai is hot on the heels of Brussels. Big drop in South Africa

It justifies the 2023/2024 capacities of the airlines serving Kigali which are either the same of bigger than before covid (except KLM). I would say in the medium term we will see new airlines coming to Kigali. But in my opinion, there will need to be greater demand in Asia and North America. Because naturally outside Africa, Europe represents the greatest demand. Another interesting thing, the trend is more towards export demand than import (even if it is quite close). Probably due to expatriates

France (top 5: + BSL Franco Swiss airport: 6,843 pax)

Lyon (KGL LYS: 1,793 / LYS KGL: 704)
Toulouse (KGL TLS: 858 / TLS KGL: 361)
Marseille (KGL MRS: 785 / MRS KGL: 325)
Bordeaux (KGL BOD: 423 / BOD KGL: 202)
Montpellier (KGL MPL: 170 / MPL KGL: 93)

Basel Mulhouse: (KGL BSL: 868 / BSL KGL: 261)

Africa (top 5: 178,730 pax):

Nairobi (KGL NBO 47,638 / NBO KGL: 44,836)
Entebbe (KGL EBB: 19,405 EBB KGL: 19,555)
Dar Es Salaam (KGL DAR: 12,469 / DAR KGL: 11,569)
Lagos (KGL LOS: 11,482 / KGL LOS: 10,872)
Johannesburg (KGL JNB: 9,280 / JNB KGL: 9,224)

America (top 5: 52,846 pax)

Montreal (KGL YUL: 10,583 / YUL KGL: 4,577)
Washington (KGL IAD: 8,831 / IAD KGL: 4,290
New York (KGL JFK: 6,178 / JFK KGL: 2,914)
Toronto (KGL YYZ: 5,268 / YYZ KGL: 2,542)
Chicago (KGL ORD: 5,569 / ORD KGL: 2,094)

Note that Chicago, Boston, Ottawa and Dallas (where the largest Rwandan diaspora lives in the USA, around 7,000 https://publications.iom.int/system/fil ... the-US.pdf are about the same level

Asia (top 5: 54,898 pax)

Dubai (KGL DXB 15,173 / DXB KGL: 15,121)
Mumbai (KGL BOM: 5,452 / BOM KGL: 5,338)
Guangzhou (KGL CAN: 3,074 / CAN KGL: 2,515)
Doha (KGL DOH: 2,165 / DOH KGL: 1,938)
Delhi (KGL DEL: 2,143 / DEL KGL: 1979)

Muscat (Oman) is almost at the same level as Delhi

Europe (top 5: 89,662 pax):

Brussels (KGL BRU: 18,618 / BRU KGL: 15,880)
London Heathrow (KGL LHR: 10,707 / LHR KGL: 8,856)
Paris CDG (KGL CDG: 11,093 / CDG KGL: 5,799)
Geneva (KGL GVA: 7,134 / GVA KGL: 3,079)
Frankfurt (KLG FRA: 5,791 / FRA KGL: 2,705)

Oceania (top 5 + 1 destination in New Zealand: 4,141 pax)

Sydney (KGL SYD: 589 / SYD KGL: 512)
Melbourne (KGL MEL: 388 / MEL KGL: 445)
Brisbane (KGL BNE: 379 / BNE KGL: 363)
Perth (KGL PER: 307 / PER KGL: 365)
Aélaide (KGL ADL: 215 / ADL KGL: 205

Auckland (KGL AKL: 208 / AKL KGL: 165)

[rwandan-flyer]

The general manager of Lufthansa Group in East Africa seems hint more flights to Rwanda could be operated in a future from the group.

Not only will Brussels Airlines launch a new service to #nairobi next summer, we will also increase flights to #kigali from 5 weekly to DAILY, starting June 2024.

It’s been fantastic to spend the day with our team in #rwanda under the leadership of Audrey Natukunda in order to celebrate the amazing results of 2023, and to look forward to an expanded customer offer in 2024. It was a pleasure to have our colleague Matthias Grunau from our Network Management Team join us to see the large potential this country holds. Maybe even more flights in the future Matthias ? Excited for what the future holds for Rwanda and the rest of East Africa. #lufthansagroup #lufthansagroupeastafrica

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kevin-ma ... _like_view

Matthias Grunau is also the Manager Network Planning Intercontinental for Swiss International Air Lines....

[rwandan-flyer]

For the 49 years of presence in Rwanda (well that's not linked), Ethiopian Airlines will add a 3rd daily frequency to Kigali, from the start of the summer 2024 program. In terms of flights Kigali is one of the best served destinations after Dubai, Johannesburg, Entebbe which are the only lines in full 3 times a day outside domestic. Accra is served 3 times on some days.

Daily flight from 2006, double daily in 2010 and therefore 3rd daily flight in 2024.

Some connections on the wave of mid-day connections on the new flight ET 817 and ET 806 are mainly Mumbai, Delhi, Accra, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Dubai**. But a big advantage is that the morning flight leaves at 8:30 a.m. instead of 11:30 a.m. (so shorter connection time). And despite a late departure in the morning (11.30 a.m), the plane was forced to spend almost 4 hours in Kigali to not to return too early to avoid long layovers for the evening wave of connections (or sometimes operated via Bujumbura when demand is a little less strong, which enabled him to stay 1 hour in Kigali).

In any case, good news for Kigali. This still suggests the arrival in the medium term of a new airline, because outside RwandAir and KLM all the airlines have increased their capacity, whether with larger aircraft or more flights.

**O&D with Kigali (Sept22-Aug23)

Dubai: 30,294 pax
Mumbai: 10,790 pax
Addis Ababa (it was almost double before covid, but it will rise again): 9,222 pax
Accra: 8,354 pax
Istanbul: 7,476 pax
Delhi: 4,122 pax
Tel Aviv: 3,454 pax

total: 73,312 pax

We have also add the routings between Star Alliance airlines (Kigali-Addis-Istanbul-Paris / London / New York,...) Ethiopian + Turkish Airlines. And note that RwandAir has had a codeshare with Ethiopian for 14 years. The flight which leaves Kigali at 10 a.m. allows you to pick up morning arrivals in Kigali from RwandAir (formerly Addis Ababa -Johannesburg- Kigali- Johannesburg)

[rwandan-flyer]

Qatar Airways Cargo appears to have suspended all flights to Kigali. The flights no longer appear on FlightRadar and on the airline website. The Qatar Airways Cargo hub in Kigali will not last long or probably temporarily suspended.

On Airliners net, someone claims that there are rumors of discussions for the signing of a code share agreement between Air France KLM and RwandAir. On the KLM website, KLM sells RwandAir flights but it is marginal (for passengers going to Bujumbura for some routings). At the moment it looks more like an interline agreement, as is the case with Oman Air (https://www.omanair.com/gbl/en/alliances-and-partners) or Vistara in India** ( https://www.airvistara.com/gb/en/travel ... s/rwandair), ITA Airways (https://www-lagenziadiviaggimag-it.tran ... r_pto=wapp) or British Airways (see screenshot)

** There are some former Indian executives who worked at RwandAir and who are now at Visatara. It certainly helps to create links: mrgreen: https://www.google.com/search?q=vistara ... s-wiz-serp (you have to scroll down)

I've heard rumors that Rwandair is working on a codeshare with AF/KL. It seems the WB/KL itinerary eastafspot picked up up-thread is not a bug. If some flights are already loaded, I think we can expect an announcement shortly.

https://www.airliners.net/forum/posting ... p=24148799

Since over 12 years, AF has code share in Kigali via Nairobi and Amsterdam. KLM has code share in Kigali via Kigali

If an agreement is signed. This would be the Paris CDG Kigali route operated by RwandAir and Amsterdam Kigali operated by KLM with access to the AF network and KLM network. In addition to the big code share agreements with Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways. RwandAir also some of its routes in code share with TK & QR.

Unbelievable to see a small airline which can have so many partnerships with big airlines. Apart from big airlines in Africa (Airlink, Egyptpair, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian, Royal Air Maroc), I do not see airlines of the size of RwandAir which have so many agreements of this type (interline and code share).

Screenshot source: RwandAir.com

[rwandan-flyer]

About KLM and RwandAir and rumors of partnerships with AF KLM that I mentioned a few days ago, KLM has added Kamembe (Rwanda) to its reservation system. You can fly on RwandAir with KLM. But nothing on the Air France website

A diplomatic alliance that I didn't see coming: Rwanda and Jordan. In a few years, relations have strengthened. Rwanda will open an embassy in Jordan. No need for visas to visit the 2 countries.

President Kagame made an official visit to Jordan 2 years ago. King Abdullah II of Jordan made an official visit to Rwanda last month. Added to this are the numerous visits from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense or trade and tourism.

In the Rwandan press, the Minister of Tourism responded to a question regarding connectivity. He spoke about RwandAir and Royal Jordanian. And that feasibility studies will have to be carried out before opening a line (https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/1467 ... ith-rwanda).

I don't believe the route immediately. Point to point is too weak. Even if I would say that Egyptair has low point-to-point traffic between Cairo and Kigali and does not offer "direct" connections in both directions to Europe, Asia and the United States (double stopovers with Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, Munich, Frankfurt with Lufthansa, Vienna with Austrian) seems to work well in Kigali (more flights per week than before covid).

But it could become interesting once all the signed agreement btw Jordan and Rwanda will take effect. Moreover, where it could be interesting is the network of the 2 airlines (depending which airlines will operate flights btw Kigali and Amman). Even if Ethiopian serves AMM, RJA could very well use the RwandAir network to set foot again south of the Sahara. I say put back because RJA tried 10 years ago to launch in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. This did not last long. In fact, these are extremely competitive markets. RwandAir could use the RJA network which will enable to Amman to tap into the trafic in Africa in both cases. Like Turkish Airlines and RwandAir and Qatar and RwandAir by putting code share on lines with which you can do a Brussels-Istanbul-Kigali-Bujumbura-Kgl-Ist-Bru or a Sydney-Doha-Nairobi-Kigali-Doha-Sydney.

I put O&D (above 1000 pax) of the destinations served by RJA. An interesting baseline (more than 210,000 pax without the trafic beyond Kigali with RwandAir), but which must be shared with Ethiopian, KLM, Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Egyptair and Kenya Airways.

The O&Ds cover the period from Sept22 to Aug23. Given the dynamics in Rwanda, most O&Ds will increase, and in 2022 there were still some covid restrictions.

Belgium
Brussels: 34,498 pax

United Arab Emirates
Dubai: 30,294 pax

United Kingdom
London Heathrow: 19,563 pax
Manchester: 2,335 pax

France
Paris Cdg: 16,882 pax
Lyon: 2,497 pax

United States
New York: 9,092 pax
Chicago: 7,663 pax
Detroit: 1,220 people

Canada
Montreal: 15,160 pax

Switzerland
Geneva: 10,213 pax
Zurich: 4,006 pax


Germany:
Frankfurt: 8,496 pax
Düsseldorf: 1,411 pax

Netherlands:
Amsterdam: 9,462 pax

Türkiye:
Istanbul: 7,476 pax

Egypt:
Cairo: 7,254 pax

Italy:
Milan: 3,172 pax
Rome: 2,883 pax

Spain
Madrid: 2,549 pax
Barcelona: 1,558 pax

Qatar:
Doha: 4,103 pax

Israel:
Tel Aviv: 3,454 pax

Tunisia:
Tunis: 2,448 pax

[rwandan-flyer]

AfDB, Rwanda Development Board launch Centre of Excellence for Aviation Skills https://rdb.rw/afdb-rwanda-development- ... on-skills/



RwandAir will move to the terminal 4 at Heathrow from late March 2024. This terminal is served by some Oneworld and SkyTeam airlines


I think the move to T4 is linked probably the rumor of partnership with AF KLM and also the fact that Qatar Airways serves this terminal. All their flights to Heathrow (also flights to Gatwick) are operated in code share with RwandAir. There are also Malaysia Airlines and Royal Air Maroc. You can see Kigali in their booking engine, but for MH is via Ethiopian Airlines and Royal Air Maroc is via Qatar Airways (however RAM plans to serve Kigali by 2027). Note also that Qatar Airways Dublin route is now covered by RwandAir code share. All Qatar Airways services to England, Scotland and Ireland are now covered by RwandAir code share.

Turkish Airlines has also added its code on the only RwandAir domestic flight: Kigali-Kamembe TK8076 / TK8077

On FlyDubai Kigali was never removed since they end flights to KGL in 2016 (while Bujumbura and Kinshasa are not longer on the website). Currently you can only do Kigali Addis Abeba Dubai with Ethiopian then FlyDubai. But FlyDubai has added Kamembe on its website. No bookings available. Either they plan to expand partnership with RwandAir (https://www.flydubai.com/en/destinations/connections) or FlyDubai will resume flights to Rwanda soon.

The demand is bigger thant 10 years ago (even if RwandAir still flying from KGL to DXB). UAE is now largest partner of Rwanda (1 Billion USD in 2022 vs 100 Millions in 2012 https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/5283 ... on-in-2022). FlyDubai provides connecting with Emirates. It was not the case mid 2010s.

[Aarna785]

It seems like the transition to Terminal 4 may be connected to rumors of a partnership with AF KLM, especially considering Qatar Airways operates there and serves as a code share partner with RwandAir for flights to Heathrow and Gatwick. Additionally, Terminal 4 hosts Malaysia Airlines and Royal Air Maroc, with plans for Royal Air Maroc to directly serve Kigali by 2027. Notably, Qatar Airways' Dublin route is now covered by RwandAir code share, extending to all their services to England, Scotland, and Ireland.story saver

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir announces the (probably definitely) suspension of its route to Mumbai, from 15 March 2024.

It's not really a surprise. Capacity was much lower than before covid. A330 flights 4 times a week with continuation to Guangzhou and with the 5th freedom roghts between BOM and CAN.

In 2024, 2 flights per week in B737-800 with a technical stopover in Mombasa or Entebbe. Competitiors provide non-stop flights with larger capacities (aircraft or flight frequencies or both) is fiercer with Indigo which lands in Nairobi, Uganda Airlines, Kenya Airways, Air Tanzania and Ethiopian Airlines which offer flights to Mumbai. .

The point-to-point demand is far too low with 10,790 pax who traveled between Kigali and Mumbai between Sept22 and Aug23. Mumbai is not known for being a high yield destination. So if the closure of the route is permanent, so no surprise.

Mumbai would therefore join Tel Aviv, Dakar, Abidjan, Juba, Mombasa, Guangzhou among the routes which closed after covid. Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Goma are closed due to tensions between Rwanda and DR Congo.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=791 ... 7006614005

[rwandan-flyer]

Forgot to publish a few days ago, why RwandAir has ended flights to Mumbai. Unsurprisingly, the type of aircraft is not suitable, in terms of comfort (probably also for cargo) or routing (technical stopover in Kenya). The airline will apparently try to find the right device. Apart from the Max or A321Neo, I don't really see what they could use (especially since the E2 195 is on the short list to replace the Q400 and CRJ 900NG). The A330s fly quite a bit. Not easy to find a place in the calendar.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/1496 ... ai-flights

Some news about the future Kigali airport. All infrastructure relating to the runway, taxiways, aircraft parking lots, access and service roads and passenger parking should be finalized by July 2024 at the latest. Next phase it will be the construction of the buildings (terminals, control tower, etc.)

The opening is planned for 2026. But I still have the impression that if the buildings start to come out of the ground in mid-2024, we could be looking at an opening in 2025. Construction began in 2017 (the project dates from the end of the 2000s): search for funds, very long call for tenders, covid crisis, a different project when a firm has won a call of tenders (TPS, MotoEngil, Qatar Airways ,....). All this led to delays.

It's time that the airport opens. In the morning (5 a.m.-10 a.m.) and evening (6 p.m.-3 a.m.), the traffic (which is well managed) is quite busy. Ethioipian, Kenya Airways, Brussels Airlines and KLM will add more flights in 2024. The period from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. gives (a little) break for the airport in terms of flights, and RwandAir has not regained its capacity before covid with several routes closed and some routes with reducing frequencies (Dar Es Salaam, Harare and Lusaka)

KGL is also a Cat II airport, it's means that you can"t land with 0 visibility. Many diversions to Entebbe and sometimes to Bujumbura. It lead to a drama story few months ago with Kenya Airways which back to Naiorbi few minutes before to land at KGL. Pilot did the right solution, but many headlines in Kenyan presse (and bad buzz) https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... ogs+kigali


The construction of the first phase of Bugesera airport is completed
https://rba-co-rw.translate.goog/post/I ... r_pto=wapp

© Marco Canto


And some evenings (here in October 2023), some patterns over Rwamagana

[rwandan-flyer]

RwandAir loads to Bru and Cdg.

A330-300 :30B + 21E+ + 223E
A330-200 : 20B + 21E+ + 203E

For CDG

Higher btw 70-105 pax in eco and 7-11 pax in Biz.
Lower btw 24 - 50 pax in eco and 3-6 pax in Biz

For Brussels

Higher btw 130-170 pax in eco 7-9 pax in Biz
Lower btw 50-90 pax in eco and 4-7 pax in Biz

Sometimes the number of pax is higher from CDG than from BRU. That's probably why the airline planned to untag the KGL-CDG-BRU. It seems that CDG has often better loads in Biz class than BRU. Sometimes you can have no shows (pax arriving late, missed connecting, missing papers for pax,.....) meaning less pax on board than booked.

France, Rwanda sign €400M partnership agreement https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/1578 ... -agreement

The two ministers also signed an air services agreement. Rwanda’s airline RwandAir operates three weekly flights to French capital Paris.

A nice trip report from CDG KGL with RwandAir (final destination was Entebbe) by Nasser. I make some planespotting sessions with him at Paris Orly. He works for Sabena Technics. We can see the interior still with former Avianca IFE. Last time he was in Rwanda it was almost 10 years ago with KLM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGnKbxs ... SHAviation

[rwandan-flyer]

Ryanair CEO Will ‘Happily’ Offer Rwanda Deportation Flights

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has weighed in on the controversial UK government proposal to commence deportation flights to Rwanda. The outspoken chief of the major low-cost airline said he would ‘happily’ conduct the flights if he had available capacity.
https://aviationsourcenews.com/airline/ ... e_vignette



A little reminder of the context. Based on facts.

In exchange for money, Rwanda wants to welcome asylum seekers. Rwanda justifies this policy based on 2 things:

The fact that in its history (the Hutu social revolution during independence, massacre against the Tutsi in the 60s-70s-90s, civil war from 1990 to 1994, genocide against the Tutsi in 1994).

And for several years the country has welcomed refugees from Libya (but also from the DRC or Burundi) who are placed in transit camps before being sent to the West. But unlike the agreement with the UK, the one with Libya is under the aegis of UNHCR.

Flights are often operated by Buraq Air B737-800s between Lybia and Rwanda

In short, a year ago Privilege Style said yes to operating this type of flight. Faced with boycott threats, the company gave up. In the meantime, the case has passed from court to court. Finally the British parliament took a new vote. But like in the previous case, the companies are not willing to do this kind of this flight. RwandAir also refused last year.

We are now talking about Air Tanker

The Rwandan government has support from part of the Rwandan diaspora as well as famous journalists and intellectuals in Rwanda.

Especially since other countries in Europe would like to develop the same thing with Rwanda. We are talking about Denmark (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/un ... 023-11-28/) and Austria (https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/03/aus ... plications)

We will see if the ever-increasing number of tourists and investors coming to Rwanda will sort things out. Because in my opinion (and this is my personal opinion, it is a dangerous game in the long term for Rwanda)

https://news.sky.com/story/government-o ... d-13117002

[sn26567]

Ryanair CEO Will ‘Happily’ Offer Rwanda Deportation Flights

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has weighed in on the controversial UK government proposal to commence deportation flights to Rwanda. The outspoken chief of the major low-cost airline said he would ‘happily’ conduct the flights if he had available capacity.

Easy to say: he doesn't have the capacity, nor does he have the right type of aircraft.

In the absence of airlines willing to operate such flights, the UK Government will probably utilise Royal Air Force aircraft, at least if their Supreme Court allows the flights to proceed.