RWANDA COULD BECOME AFRICA’ MAIN AIR SHOW LOCATION
(Posted 06th March 2019)
(File picture of the Paris Airshow courtesy of Wikipedia)
Additional news emerged from the sidelines of the recently concluded Aviation Africa Conference which was hosted in Kigali / Rwanda.
Suggestions have been made that, when the new Bugesera International Airport has opened for traffic, Rwanda would seek to bring the equivalent of such international airshows like Farnborough, Bahrain, Dubai and Paris to Kigali, to establish a regular interaction platform for manufacturers and suppliers similar to what is happening in other parts of the world.
Delegates to the aviation summit in Kigali were for instance able to see a brand new Gulfstream Business Jet G500 but also a G280 parked at the international airport, of course with the aim of the manufacturer to impress visitors and market their aircraft and boost sales but a fully fledged airshow of course would feature dozens of aircraft on the ground.
Given Kigali’s record in hosting aviation conferences and aviation training sessions for Africa, is it not far fetched to see this eventually expand into a proper continental airshow, where all the key manufacturers of commercial and business aircraft can then at regular intervals showcase their aircraft, such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer and Viking but also Russian and Chinese aircraft manufacturers keen on expanding their footprint in Africa.
