RwandAir starts Paris service.

Earlier today the first scheduled service from Kigali International Airport to Paris arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport Airport for RwandAir.  The carrier welcomed the service with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a celebration.

The airline's Airbus A330 aircraft will operate the route three times a week with a flying time of 8 hours and 30 minutes. 

Yvonne Makolo, CEO of RwandAir, said: “The launch of our first-ever flights to Paris is an exciting development in RwandAir’s continuing expansion and a testament to the importance of French-Rwandan relations.

France is a major market for RwandAir as we connect the continents of Africa and Europe through our home hub in Kigali with this new direct service to Paris, one of the world’s top tourism destinations.

French travellers can look forward to a warm welcome onboard on our inaugural flight today and for many more years to come as we deepen the ties of friendship and fraternity between France and Rwanda.”

RwandAir A330-300

Seating Capacity:

30 Business Class, 244 Economy Class.

Cargo Capacity 132.20m³

Overall Length 63.69m

Wingspan 60.30m

Overall Height 17.18m

Cabin Width 5.18m (Inside)

Cabin Height 2.38m (Floor to ceiling)

Max. Takeoff Weight 235t

Cruising Speed / Max. Speed 1062.kph

RwandAir confirms service restart with a move from Gatwick to Heathrow.

RwandAir will resume flights to and from London and Brussels to Kigali from October 3, 2020, as it reinstates its passenger network.

The resumption of European services will see the leading African carrier switch its UK operations from London Gatwick, with commercial flights to the Rwandan capital now departing from London Heathrow for the first time.

The inaugural RwandAir service from Kigali to Brussels and London Heathrow will depart on October 3 at 1:00 AM local time and operate using an A330 twin-aisle aircraft.

Flights will initially resume on a twice-weekly basis, before increasing to three-times-weekly from October 25, reconnecting the UK with Rwanda for passenger and critical cargo operations.

RawandAir halts all flights for 30 days......

Following instructions from the Rwandan Ministry of Health, RwandAir, the national airline of Rwanda, has confirmed it will halt all flight operations for 30 days.

The carrier has taken the decision to temporarily suspend its commercial passenger flights to help protect the country against the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.  The airline says the special measures will apply for a period of 30 days, which started this morning and will affect all scheduled RwandAir flights departing from and arriving in Rwanda.

Customers holding tickets with RwandAir, for flights between 21 March and 20 April, have several future travel options including rebooking with the airline to fly at a later date. All change fees will be waived, giving customers more flexibility to delay their travel.

Qatar Airways working on 49% investment in RwandAir

Intense negotiations are ongoing between Qatar Airways and the Rwandan government over a massive investment in the latter's state airline RwandAir, according to Qatar's Akbar al-Baker.

The Gulf airline's chief executive officer told the media during last week that the negotiations are ongoing into taking a 49% stake in the African airline. Such a move would greatly enhance Qatar's exploration into one of the world's fastest-growing aviation regions - Africa.  It might also help it get round some of the restrictions imposed on it by its near neighbours which have had a negative impact on the carrier's operations. RwandAir could potentially carry African passengers over airspace that is currently blocked to Qatar registered aircraft, to the Gulf carriers home base of Doha.  

"We are very tough negotiators ... we will take our time to negotiate," Akbar al-Baker said ad Qatar Airways already holds investments in a number of other airlines,  including Air Italy, China Southern, Cathay Pacific, IAG and LATAM Airlines.  It was only in December that Qatar Airways agreed to take a stake in a new Rwandan airport. 

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RwandAir expands route network with services to Guangzhou and Tel Aviv,

Guangdong 

RwandAir, the flag carrier of the Republic of Rwanda, has expanded its route network with a new service from his home base to Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong and the third largest city in China.

The airline will fly to Guangzhou three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Guangzhou will be tagged to the existing Mumbai route and will be operated by the African Airlines Airbus A330 with triple-class cabin and equipped with state-of-the-art technology, Wi-Fi onboard, in-flight entertainment and comfortable seats with more legroom making it very convenient for long haul flights.