MEET KALISIMBI AND UMURAGE – RWANDAIR’S LATEST BIRDS
(Posted 12th November 2016)
(Picture courtesy of RwandAir)
Next week will see the arrival of RwandAir’s fifth Boeing B737, another -800NG version of the world’s most successful passenger plane ever built.
Ordered some time ago, together with a sistership which is due for delivery in Q2 of 2017, will the new medium distance jet help the airline to increase frequencies across the current network but also facilitate a progressive network expansion which has already been announced for 2017.
The plane has been named ‘Kalisimbi‘ reflecting Rwanda’s highest mountain and a key element for gorilla tourism.
At the end on the month, the 30th of November, will then ‘Umurage‘, aka ‘Heritage‘ join sistership ‘Ubumwe‘ after her ferry flight from Toulouse where Airbus is presently putting final touches on the aircraft ahead of test flights and delivery.
This wide body aircraft, a larger -300 variant of the world’s most successful wide body aircraft in service, will then allow RwandAir to go intercontinental, with Mumbai in India named as first destination beyond the African continent and the Gulf.
The two aircraft deliveries will bring the fleet of RwandAir to overall 11 and making it the youngest on the African continent.
