Impressive Rwandair: Rwandair's B737-800s to boost Western African Expansion

The last one year has been quite impressive for Rwandair, the airline from the heart of Africa. Rwandair was launched in 2002 as a state carrier for Rwanda but it's expansion in recent years has been amazing. The airline sees itself as a bridge between the heart of Africa and the Eastern and Western parts of Africa.

Initially its flights were concentrated in East Africa, primarily Uganda and Kenya but the last two years has seen the airline extend its wings to Western Africa, Southern Africa and the Middle East. The airline has been aggressively improving its service offering through an agreement with SITA, expanding routes and its fleet size. Early this year, Rwandair launched flights to Brazzaville in the Congo Republic and Libreville in Gabon. It's B737-800s are on the way.

The airline also plans to open up new routes in West Africa, upgrade the Dubai route by deploying the new planes, provision of more cargo and sitting capacity, hence attracting more customers. In 2012, the airline will open new route to Nigeria. Nigerian businessmen have made major investments in Rwanda in the banking, insurance and hospitality industries and the Nigerian route will facilitate movement of Nigerian investors into the fast growing Central African nation, sometimes dubbed as the Singapore of Africa. Passengers from West Africa can also use Kigali as a transit point, a gateway not only to Central but East Africa, further reinforcing Rwandair's claim as a future bridge between Eastern and Western Africa.

Many other African airlines including Kenya Airways, South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are aggressively expanding their operations to interlink as many African cities as possible giving Rwandair no choice but to join the scramble for the African Skies. Kenya Airways for example, plans to connect all the African capital cities by 2013. Those who are unwilling to shape up in the rapidly changing African aviation scene will perish. Given that Rwandair has been experiencing a steady growth in passenger numbers of 20% per month in the last few months, the small airline from the land of thousand hills will soon be dancing with giants of Africa in the scramble for the loyalty of Africa's fast rising middle class.
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