RwandAir acquires second Boeing 737-500

"I am pleased that we have successfully moved from previous wet lease arrangements to an owned and operated fleet", said Rene Janata, CEO RwandAir. He further announced that with the current fleet size, plans were underway to launch scheduled flights into Kinshasa and Dubai via Mombasa at the beginning of October 2010. "The recent changes in our flight schedule were made to accommodate these new destinations and also create a network operation for better connectivity," he added.

Building a viable airline

Speaking at the reception ceremony, Rwanda's Minister for Infrastructure, Vincent Karega, said: "I am pleased the national carrier will be connecting Rwanda to the second port city of East Africa and also the Middle East." He further expressed the Rwandan government's desire to build a viable airline, which is commercially profitable. RwandAir currently operates three flights to Dar es Salaam and will fly to Dubai via Mombasa four times a week.

The airline serves all East African community capital cities with daily flights and it flies to Johannesburg five times a week. The airline currently has a fleet of two Boeing 737-500s, two Bombardier CRJs and a Dash 8. Two Boeing 737-800s will join the fleet in 2011. The carrier has plans to fly to more regional and intercontinental destinations.