UN lifts travel ban for staff on RwandAir

UN FINALLY CLEARS RWANDAIR FOR TRAVEL BY THEIR STAFF

(Posted 26th October 2015)

Following an inexplicable ban by the United Nations to have their staff fly on RwandAir flights – and no doubt was there more to it than meets the eye, and it is suspected not from the airline vis a vis safety standards but more on the political level from the UN side – has the prohibition order now been lifted, according to information received from Kigali.

RwandAir, which purchased all but two of their now 8 aircraft new from the manufacturers Bombardier and Boeing – two Boeing B737-700NG were between 5 and 6 years old when acquired on a long term lease from TuiFly – had attained IATA’s coveted IOSA Certification last year and subsequently joined the world aviation body as a full member. The airline is currently preparing for the e-IOSA recertification, ‘e’ standing for enhanced while also undergoing the IATA audit for safe ground operations, known as ISAGO.

The announcement was made recently by the UN’s Resident Representative in Rwanda Lamin Manneh, a move warmly welcomed by the RwandAir management and staff and taken as a long overdue recognition of the airline’s extraordinary efforts towards becoming one of Africa’s text book examples of how to run an aviation company.