RWANDAIR SET TO WELCOME IATA DELEGATION
(Posted 27th November 2014)
When in two weeks’ time a delegation from IATA will be in Kigali to formally present RwandAir with their IOSA Certificate, which catapulted the airline into the global elite of safety audited airlines, will the guests from near and far see a lot more than just the airline’s headquarters and operations but also the ‘new’ Kigali International Airport.
Rwanda, repeatedly described by this correspondent as Rwanda Incorporated, may be a geographically smaller country but certainly has taken her place on the world scene and is by the general evaluation of many, using a pugilist term, punching well above her weight, and rightly so.
The Rwandan government has identified aviation as a key to economic success, being a landlocked country twice removed from the nearest deep sea ocean port of Mombasa, through which most of the imports and exports are routed. Tourism is the biggest foreign exchange earner and has been for several years, outpacing agriculture, mining and the service industry, as Rwanda has also established herself as a regional ICT hub.
RwandAir and the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority, both fall under the same home ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and while clearly functioning independently of each other, as the regulator and the regulated should be, is a greater force at work here, superimposing national goals.
While RwandAir, with the full backing of the government, which owns all the shares in the company, has over the past three years progressively expanded operations, destinations and the fleet, now operating two B737-800NG SkyInterior, two B737-700NG’s, two Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen’s and one Bombardier Q400 NextGen, has the RCAA played their role in expanding and modernizing the existing Kigali International Airport.
Inspite of plans to build a brand new second airport in Bugesera, some 20 kilometres outside the capital, which should be ready for operations by 2018, has the RCAA, which besides being the national aviation regulator is also managing the country’s airports, spent megabucks in upgrading and expanding Kigali International, previously known as Kanombe International, to provide much needed extra space. Not only do more airlines now fly to Kigali than ever before, the latest entrant being flydubai, besides Brussels Airlines, KLM, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, South African Airways to name but a few, but notably has the growth of RwandAir itself made larger spaces inevitable. The national airline of the Land of a Thousand Hills now carries well in excess of half a million passengers, many of them in transit to their final destination, be it West Africa, South Africa, the Gulf or of course the entire Eastern African region with a total of 16 destinations.
Two more aircraft will join the fleet in 2015 and 2016, adding yet more growth and the Rwandan government, wise in their foresight, took early steps to avoid the perennial congestion Nairobi suffered for several years before the new Terminal 1A was opened a few months ago, or Entebbe where the airport has reached its limits, inspite of the local regulators wiping out quasi national airline Air Uganda earlier in the year.
Aviation, like everything else in Rwanda, follows a masterplan, which while tweaked and adjusted as need arises has brought about a holistic approach, where the national airline and the main airport are backed and financed for expansion side by side, allowing for a success story to be written and a new feather put in to the national cap when IATA hands over the IOSA Certificate on the 10th of December.
Good governance, good discipline and good fortunes, all coming together to make this happen, as the Land of [a lot more than just] a Thousand Hills continues to shine as an African success story, one that not only includes aviation but has it as a centre piece of future development.
For more details on Destination Rwanda click on www.rwandatourism.com and for information about airline schedules, fares and more visit www.rwandair.com
