(Posted 20th September 2026)
The first additional A330-200 entered service in last month, supporting additional frequencies to Paris and Brussels. Four more such aircraft should arrive by year-end.
Frankfurt, Mumbai and Guangzhou are under evaluation for a route expansion and snnual passenger traffic is targeted to more than double from just over one million in 2023/24 to 2.1 million by 2028/29.
The infrastructure behind the strategy is the new $2 billion Bugesera International Airport, where Qatar Airways holds 60%, plus an agreed 49% stake in RwandAir itself.
That is a new hub-building capital, not portfolio capital. The headwinds are real such as fuel costs and have forced fare revisions. RwandAir’s acting commercial chief has called for stronger political commitment to the Single African Air Transport Market.
How or if Kigali can compete against larger hubs like Addis Ababa or Nairobi or hold its own against the hub strategy of neighbours like Tanzania and Uganda will remain to be seen but will largely depend on the ranking Rwandair receives from passengers vis a viz services provide, on the ground and in the air.
