acecrackshot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

bmagee wrote:

Just heard a rather large aircraft in Kigali - Saw it was an Emirates 777-300 (EK9721 - guessing cargo?). Looks like they aborted the landing and went around. Can't say that I've seen an Emirates cargo flight here recently.

Always nice to see pictures of Kilgali! A really pleasant city by any standard.

Your welcome i will post more later

rukundo wrote:

After a long period of storage (a time stored in Zimbabwe then in Rwanda) one of RwandAir's B737-700 9XR-WJs carried out a test flight a week ago. The plane back to the service today: Kigali-Douala-Bangui. This aircraft has been leased to ILFC since 2013 (delivered new to Air Berlin in 2007)

https://fr.flightaware.com/live/flight/ ... /HRYR/HRYR

It is now stored in Palma de Mallorca so it seems that the aircraft was phased out. It was not Air Berlin the 1st operator of this 737 but TUIFly, mistake from me.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airc ... j#274cd6a9

A trip report quite recent onboard of a RwandAir B737-700 from 2:54. The flight was Kigali Kinshasa but the person was arriving from South Africa. Flight Attendants announcements in Kinyarwanda, it's not every day that you can hear that (from 06:44) , followed by Eng and French announcements

My First trip to DR Congo Kinshasa via Kigali after so many years being outside during Covid-19 time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtWz75X01Ek&t=504s

Icône de validation par la communauté




The A330Neo and B737Max will not be delivered but already had their Rwandan registrations. The 4 had to be leased





The RwandAir fleet as 04/08/2021:

4 B737-800 (2 leased 9XR-WR / WQ)
1 B737-700 (leased)
2 CRJ-900ER (RwandAir is the owner)
2 A330 (RwandAir is the owner)
2 Q400NG (1 leased (9XR-WM) and the other RwandAir is the owner)




Note that in the past, RwandAir planned to buy a B737-300 coming from KLM and 2 B787 called "terrible teens" (Ex Royal Air Maroc).

Qatar Airways (flight today operated by B777-300ER) and KLM are increasing their number of flights this week to Kigali. The 2 airlines will offer 5 flights per week. Before covid, these 2 airlines served Kigali daily.

A delegation from Uganda Airlines was in Kigali in mid April 2021, with a view to opening a route between Entebbe and Kigali. Since the end of Air Uganda, RwandAir has a monopoly on this line which is operated in double touch with Nairobi and Juba (South Sudan). Before the crisis it was 3 to 4 flights a day which is high in Africa. https://www.facebook.com/uhckigali/post ... 0471425281

No surprise RwandAir suspends its flights to Mumbai https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 3893284871

Note that one RwandAir 737-700 stored at Palma flown back to Kigali on 30Apr21 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/9xr-wj

RwandAir flights to Johannesburg will resume on May 7, 2021 (3 flights per week). KGL JNB is the company's oldest route. In April 2023 we will celebrate the 20 years of the route https://www.facebook.com/FlyRwandAir/po ... 4046012145

It seems that RwandAir will open flights between Bangui and Kinshasa. Routing: Kigali-Kinshasa-Bangui and not via Brazzaville as it was previoulsy announced. Bangui is still be served 3 times a week, but 2 times via Douala and once via Kinshasa

The Minister of Transport and Works in Uganda, Gen. Katumba Wamala, has supposedly terminated CEO Cornwell Muleya and suspended the entire management team and board of directors of Uganda Airlines due to allegations of corruption, mismanagement and poor performance.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/n ... ed-3384158

https://www.independent.co.ug/uganda-ai ... -shake-up/

B747-437B wrote:

The Minister of Transport and Works in Uganda, Gen. Katumba Wamala, has supposedly terminated CEO Cornwell Muleya and suspended the entire management team and board of directors of Uganda Airlines due to allegations of corruption, mismanagement and poor performance.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/n ... ed-3384158

https://www.independent.co.ug/uganda-ai ... -shake-up/

Well that didn't take long.
What is the government actually expecting? Profitability? Did some consultant say that if they did A, B and C that they would be profitable within the first year of operation?

A RwandAir aircraft made an emergency landing in Lubumbashi (DRC), while it was on the Kigali-Lusaka (Zambia) -Johannesburg link. (night flight at the moment) on 12 May 2021.https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 6258040833

No info on the type of failure, and I don't have the reg of the aircraft. But the failure must have been serious because RwandAir sent another B737-800 9XR-WQ a few hours later.

'' Small advantage '', the flight time between Lubumbashi and Lusaka is only 40-45min: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airc ... q#27b22580

If anyone has any info on the incident, because nothing on AvHerald.

Otherwise a little bit Rwandan soft power with sponsorship and VIP flights to earn some cash.

Sponsoring, of the Tour of Rwanda (it's been a few years now). Amateur tour but more and more followed and which has attracted pro cyclists in recent years, to prepare for the big tours (Giro, Vuelta, Tour de France, ...).

Contract also signed for the 1st edition of the Basketball Africa League who will take place at Kigali. An African-style NBA or Euroleague which will be broadcast on Canal +, Bein, ESPN or NBA TV.

RwandAir will transport some teams (https://nba.africa-newsroom.com/press/v ... rs?lang=en). The 9XR-WQ was in Maputo a few days ago to transport the Maputo Ferroviário team https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airc ... q#27ae4d11

Salva Kiir Mayardit (President of South Sudan) and his famous hat which often flies on RwandAir when he travels: https://twitter.com/rarrigz/status/1392132498927362057. Here the 9XR-WR: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/9xr-wr Talking about of South Sudan, Juba is the only destination in East Africa that RwandAir has not relaunched

Boarding of KL535 to EBB via KGL currently underway, looks like the flight is fully booked, is it normal ? Lots of Americans and French too.
Gate agents in Paris (empty cdg-ams by kl) told me there are lot of people travelling to Kigali today and when checked in, the sequence shown on BP is 214 on PH-AKD "Havana"....
What is happening ? Covid-19 is over in Africa ?

Airontario wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

Boarding of KL535 to EBB via KGL currently underway, looks like the flight is fully booked, is it normal ? Lots of Americans and French too.
Gate agents in Paris (empty cdg-ams by kl) told me there are lot of people travelling to Kigali today and when checked in, the sequence shown on BP is 214 on PH-AKD "Havana"....
What is happening ? Covid-19 is over in Africa ?

The basketball tournament kicking off this weekend is getting a lot of traction in the NBA world. Perhaps it's related to this? Media, scouts, sponsors, etc.

It really makes sense and i do appreciate your fast answer. The plane seemed full like pre covid era and this flight (= friday) wasn't available for booking months ago, as only 3 frequencies per week are available nowadays.

eastafspot wrote:

Airontario wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

Boarding of KL535 to EBB via KGL currently underway, looks like the flight is fully booked, is it normal ? Lots of Americans and French too.
Gate agents in Paris (empty cdg-ams by kl) told me there are lot of people travelling to Kigali today and when checked in, the sequence shown on BP is 214 on PH-AKD "Havana"....
What is happening ? Covid-19 is over in Africa ?

The basketball tournament kicking off this weekend is getting a lot of traction in the NBA world. Perhaps it's related to this? Media, scouts, sponsors, etc.

It really makes sense and i do appreciate your fast answer. The plane seemed full like pre covid era and this flight (= friday) wasn't available for booking months ago, as only 3 frequencies per week are available nowadays.

Egytpair came with an A330-300 to Kigali, this night replacing the usual B737-800. First time that they send A330 to KGL. I guess it was related to Basketball Africa League. There is also the The CAF (Confederation of African Football) Executive Committee and Rwanda is one of few Africans countries on "low or moderate list" about Covid for many countries in the world (low risk or moderate risk) so there "are many" people who come to Rwanda

The next month (if everything goes well) there will be the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kigali (planned last year) https://thecommonwealth.org/chogm

Level 2: Moderate Level of COVID-19 in Rwanda for US CDC https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/co ... rus-rwanda while many countries in Europe or in Asia are "Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19" https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/noticescovid19

Kigali reached around 45 flights today. It's quite good. But most of time it's around 55-60 flights a day

I forgot for UE, no travel restrictions for Rwanda: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/eu-lis ... -covid-19/

rukundo wrote:

The next month (if everything goes well) there will be the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kigali (planned last year

No, once again, it has been postponed.

On saturday i saw the 747 cargo Magma taking off. It's been a while without seeing a quad there. Is she the only regular visitor ?

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

The next month (if everything goes well) there will be the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kigali (planned last year

No, once again, it has been postponed.

On saturday i saw the 747 cargo Magma taking off. It's been a while without seeing a quad there. Is she the only regular visitor ?

In deed i have missed article on KT Press, published one week ago

Magma operates flights from Liege since over one year https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/new-car ... re-exports & https://www.magma-aviation.com/network

However it seems that Qatar Cargo has ended their cargo service to Rwanda. I can't see Kigali on their cargo network.

It's pretty hard for cargo airline to be profitable in Rwanda. Turkish Cargo (2 times), KLM Cargo (they have replaced Martinair Cargo) and Emirates SkyCargo have also failed.

Fees are high at Kigali Airport and the level of exports are quite low compare to Kenya or Uganda

Photo. The CRJ-900 9XR-WH which diverted in Lumbubashi on May 12, 2020. It was operating the Kigali-Lusaka-Johannesburg flight. Probably one of the longest flights in the world for a CRJ-900NG, with the Kigali-Harare-Cape Town flight. The CRJ left by ferry for Kigali on May 13

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=597 ... 6100342801

Uganda Airlines does Entebbe-Johannesburg in a CRJ-900. Kenya Airways does Nairobi-Lagos and Nairobi Johannebsurg in ERJ-190

RwandAir confirms the launch of the Kinshasa Bangui link, at the rate of one flight per week (Kigali-Kinshasa-Bangui)

https://www.facebook.com/FlyRwandAir/po ... 9834912145

No surprise, RwandAir has laid off staff (and hopes to hire some), but is counting on its African route to back in the green. It is to qualify because the airline has only had one positive financial year since 2002

RwandAir to focus on African routes in new recovery strategy https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwandai ... y-strategy

AFCAC - African Civil Aviation Commission
@Afcac_Cafac
·
Apr 27
Constitution of AFCAC enters force definitely on 06 April 2021 upon deposit of the 15th instrument of ratification by Republic of Senegal, with Rwanda as the 16th Member State to ratify. https://twitter.com/Afcac_Cafac/status/ ... 5403155463

African airports CEOs meet in Kigali https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/african ... eet-kigali

The Nyiragongo Volcano (DR Congo) erupted this evening.

Large movement of Congolese population towards Rwanda, on Rubavu (my native region )


MONUSCO
@MONUSCO
Volcanic activity around Goma: MONUSCO makes reconnaissance flights.

The lava does not appear to be heading towards the city of Goma. We remain on the alert.

https://twitter.com/MONUSCO/status/1396217834850689029

Ministry in charge of Emergency Management
@RwandaEmergency
·
Ministry in charge of Emergency Management
@RwandaEmergency

Rubavu, Rwanda has received more than 3,500 Congolese seeking refuge from the Nyiragongo volcanic eruption. The national contingency plan is in place to ensure safety and humanitarian services. https://twitter.com/RwandaEmergency/sta ... 4313154560

The lava seems to be approaching (again) Goma airport. But the situation is confusing (https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1396226831754440704).

Steve herman
@ W7VOA
In response to
@ W7VOA
Lava from the #Nyiragongo eruption is reaching Goma airport, reports @Reuters
. #DRCongo #volcano


In 2002, during the previous eruption, the Goma trail had been partially covered by lava. It took several years for work to clear the lava.

For the moment Kigali airport is working. Kigali is only 100km from Nyiragongo by air. Some planes make detours.

Map: 1: Kigali (Rwanda), 2: Goma. Arrow and circle: Nyiragongo volcano



Turkish's A330 operating the flight Istanbul Kigali arrived directly from eastern Rwanda, via Tanzania, instead of arriving from the north.



The RwandAir Brazzaville-Kigali flight arrived straight from the south of Rwanda, instead of arriving from the west.



The Brussels Airlines A330 arriving from Entebbe used the same arrival lane to Kigali that it normally uses. Same for the Ethiopian night flight

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

Presumably this replaces GVA in their pre covid schedule.

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

Presumably this replaces GVA in their pre covid schedule.

Wonder why they cannot make a seasonal direct flight to/ex-Mombasa ?
Past failures have been partly due to connectivity issues ex-NBO. Most tourists to/ from Mombasa and Malindi had to overnight in NBO from both directions to connect.

Rubani294 wrote:

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

Presumably this replaces GVA in their pre covid schedule.

Wonder why they cannot make a seasonal direct flight to/ex-Mombasa ?
Past failures have been partly due to connectivity issues ex-NBO. Most tourists to/ from Mombasa and Malindi had to overnight in NBO from both directions to connect.

A big reason on why they would fly to Milan is the cargo demand. Hence Nairobi makes sense.

Rubani294 wrote:

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

Presumably this replaces GVA in their pre covid schedule.

Wonder why they cannot make a seasonal direct flight to/ex-Mombasa ?
Past failures have been partly due to connectivity issues ex-NBO. Most tourists to/ from Mombasa and Malindi had to overnight in NBO from both directions to connect.

Probably the have bad feeling follow the launch of long haul flight from Mombasa. In 2006, they served London Heathrow from Mombasa probably for the same reasons that you have said. B ut it was a failure https://www.wantedinafrica.com/news/new ... kenya.html.

Italians love also Seychelles, South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar and Tanzania. Destinations served by KQ.

-------------------------------------------

News from Bugesera airport.

Project started almost 15 years ago (construction started in 2017). Several market studies, different plans, several calls for tenders, expropriation which took time, lack of funds, covid ... It's quite rare to projects that have experienced so much delay in Rwanda. There was the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Center, which took almost 10 years to complete.

If all goes well airport opening in December 2022 https://www.ktpress.rw/2021/05/bugesera ... next-year/

Maximum capacity 7 million passengers, over the period 2022-2032. and 14 million for the second phase.

Before covid, the current Kigali airport was at 1,200,000 pax. The current terminal dating from 1980 was designed to accommodate 400,000-500,000 pax maximum (number exceeded in 2012 https://en.igihe.com/spip.php?page=mv2_ ... ticle=5789), it has been extended to several times (https://www.mininfra.gov.rw/updates/new ... -in-rwanda). The current capacity is 1,500,000. Without the covid this number would surely have been exceeded very quickly. And it's not possible to expand the airport even further. It is located on a hill in the eastern suburbs of Kigali.

Small glimpse (2014) taken from a chopper by a Rwandan friend avgeek:



The latest version of the airport with Qatar Airways which will have 60% of the shares.



The last phase of modernization (started in 2013-2014) of the Kigali airport terminal, was completed in early 2021. Addition of service road, new aircraft parking lots and a small terminal for the only domestic flight ( Kamembe). Flights to Gisenyi (suspended since 2013) must resume but for the moment the airport cannot receive Q400



The terminal in March 2011 with a nice Ethiopian B767-300ER. Big difference

MileHFL400 wrote:

rukundo wrote:

Kenya Airways plans to reopen Milan route (closed in the early 1990s). Routing will be Nairobi-Rome-Milan

Lamu and Malindi are popular destinations for Italians

Kenya Airways debuts at Malpensa. Milan-Nairobi flights

MALPENSA - The flight already appears in the airline's sales system. One more confirmation of Kenya Airways' decision to connect Malpensa airport with Nairobi.

Kenya Airways at Malpensa

Flights from Nairobi are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next June 30th. The African carrier will serve both Malpensa and Fiumicino. This means that the flight to Milan is a continuation of the connection to Rome. In the opposite direction, those departing from Malpensa will have to deal with a technical stopover in the capital of over an hour to welcome other passengers on board.

This is a connection that has not been seen at Malpensa for at least twenty years. Nairobi was in fact a destination served by Alitalia in the pre-dehubbing era. For the rest, Kenya was connected only by charter flights operated mainly by Neos and Blue Panorama.

https://www.malpensa24.it/malpensa-keny ... bi-milano/ (ITA)

Presumably this replaces GVA in their pre covid schedule.

Do we have to consider GVA as definitely closed or are there any plans for a later resumption of service ? After all, they managed to operate for about 8 or 9 months only and the latest pre-covid schedule was for 4 weekly lights NBO/GVA/FCO/NBO which shows that the route was quite promising.

There were AF pax 777 minutes ago at NBO, one with the Skyteam livery took off already while the f-gspd is still here (until tonite).
Does anyone know why ?

eastafspot wrote:

There were AF pax 777 minutes ago at NBO, one with the Skyteam livery took off already while the f-gspd is still here (until tonite).
Does anyone know why ?

Cargo

MileHFL400 wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

There were AF pax 777 minutes ago at NBO, one with the Skyteam livery took off already while the f-gspd is still here (until tonite).
Does anyone know why ?

Cargo

Thanks, it's better than standing iddle for sure, is it the same reason AF is sending (a one off ?) the 777 instead of the 789 ?

KLM launches Mombasa in W21:

- KL563 AMS 10.10 - MBA 20.50 B789 Thu, Sun
- KL563 MBO 21.40 - NBO 22.50 B789 Thu, Sun
- KL563 NBO 23.59 - AMS 06:25 B789 Thu, Sun

This winter KL will serve seven East African destinations from AMS:

- NBO 1x daily - 5x non-stop 2x via MBA
- MBA 2x weekly - non-stop
- JRO 5x weekly - non-stop
- DAR 1x daily - 5x via JRO, 2x via ZNZ
- ZNZ 2x weekly - non-stop
- KGL 1x daily - non-stop
- EBB 1x daily - via KGL

https://news.klm.com/klm-expands-interc ... tinations/

factsonly wrote:

KLM launches Mombasa in W21:

- KL563 AMS 10.10 - MBA 20.50 B789 Thu, Sun
- KL563 MBO 21.40 - NBO 22.50 B789 Thu, Sun
- KL563 NBO 23.59 - AMS 06:25 B789 Thu, Sun

This winter KL will serve seven East African destinations from AMS:

- NBO 1x daily - 5x non-stop 2x via MBA
- MBA 2x weekly - non-stop
- JRO 5x weekly - non-stop
- DAR 1x daily - 5x via JRO, 2x via ZNZ
- ZNZ 2x weekly - non-stop
- KGL 1x daily - non-stop
- EBB 1x daily - via KGL

https://news.klm.com/klm-expands-interc ... tinations/

Yesterday's flight KL566 nbo ams was full to the brim, same as kq's one kgl nbo (except j with 3 people) whereas the final of BAL was the same evening.

Looks like Klm will cannibalize all Kenyan market.

Btw, when will the oldest terminal part in Nbo be completed ? We could not reached there (t1) on friday as an agent told us it was closed down for renovation.

For Rukundo who is an expert of Kigali airport, or others of course, why there are (were) 2 hercule c130 qatari army at kgl ? Will try to upload pic asap...

eastafspot wrote:

For Rukundo who is an expert of Kigali airport, or others of course, why there are (were) 2 hercule c130 qatari army at kgl ? Will try to upload pic asap...

They are regular visitors since early 2021. Few month ago the reason was:

https://twitter.com/Intel_Sky/status/13 ... 2194352133

"The 'Multinational Al Hares Al Mane 2021 Exercise' hosted by Qatar continues.
Components from Türkiye
Qatar
Pakistan
Jordan
Italy
Morocco are actual participants

while Rwanda participates as an observer country.

---------------------------------------------------------

The Netherlands have lifted their restrictions on travel to Rwanda for the Dutch. There were no restrictions for Rwandans traveling to the Netherlands since Rwanda is on the EU green list.

I have learned that before the Covid19, the Netherlands was the 3rd market (I think outside Africa) in terms of tourism for Rwanda. Logically behind the USA, the United Kingdom and therefore ahead of India and Belgium (the former colonial power with Germany)

""Prior to this crisis, the Netherlands was the third largest contributor of tourists to Rwanda...We had all the safety measures in place [by June], which made the country to be recognized to have taken appropriate measures against Covid-19." - https://twitter.com/RDBrwanda/status/13 ... 3123433478

KLM should be happy to be able to fill its A330s in Kigali more and more often with point-to-point traffic which should be on the rise, before covid19: mrgreen:

The only domestic rout Kigali-Kamembe is now operated on a daily basis: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/wb601

Rare, Ethiopian used a widebody aircraft on his night flight to Kigali (a 787 on May 29, 2021). Usually these flights are operated in Q400 or B737. widebody aircraft come to Kigali are on the daylight flight.


4 of the 10 largest companies in North America are doing code share on Kigali: Air Canada, Delta and United have just been joined by JetBlue (DOH-Kigali). Note that Delta has now put its DL code on the Nairobi-Kigali flight operated by Kenya Airways (connection on KQ's JFK-NBO flight) in addition to the code share with KLM on AMS-KGL.

LATAM has also just added its LA code on Doha-Kigali flights. Maybe LATAM estimated that the number of pax going to Kigali was interesting enough to put its code there. Iberia, and Royal Air Maroc have also code share agreements with Qatar Airways on the DOH-KGL, but they are missing.







But the record in number of code share to Kigali, it is Ethiopian: Air India, Egytpair, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines. Flightats did not show Turkish Airlines and RwandAir, but they do code share on Kigali-Addis.



Following the eruption of Nyragongo last week. Flights from West or Central Africa still making detours to avoid the ashes. As here with the flight RwandAir Abuja (Nigeria) -Lagos (Nigeria) -Kigali (Rwanda (flight of May 28, 2021) https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airc ... r#27dcc84c

The East African is a Journal which often has reliables sources.

Negotiations between Qatar Airways and RwandAir stalled on staff. Qatar Airways will send RwandAir staff to Doha to learn better skills. There will be RwandAir personnel who will be fired (less qualified personnel).

In terms of human resources, Qatar Airways would like to put it staff for it, but RwandAir is not very agree and would like to keep only its current staff.

The deal will be signed by the end of 2021.

Qatar, RwandAir deadlocked on staffing but deal is still on

The acquisition deal between Qatar Airways and Rwanda's national carrier RwandAir is still on, with those aware of the latest plans saying internal re-organization is going on at the national airline to accommodate Qatar Airways to reflect the new partnership in operations by end of this year .

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bu ... on-3421312

Al Bakker is always dithyrambic when he talks about African Aviation and RwandAir.

Qatar Airways CEO Sees Huge Potential In RwandAir Partnership
: https://simpleflying.com/qatar-airways-ceo-rwandair/

Noted that there are also possibilities of partnership between Air Cote d'Ivoire and Qatar Airways.


Ivory Coast: How Qatar Airways intends to compete with Emirates https://translate.google.com/translate? ... e-divoire/



QR could therefore rely on 3 hubs in Africa: Casablanca, Abidjan and Kigali

Others news

#Rwanda has deployed sniffer dogs to detect # Covid19 at the Kigali International Airport. Data indicates that the dogs can identify the virus at an efficacy rate of up to 94%.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/how-cov ... P62eLghzeL


Surprise visit this week with an Air Austral B777-300ER F-OLRE at Kigali. It was operating a flight from La Réunion to Kigali for the French Red Cross to bring food and medicine for the victims of the eruption of Nyragongo which happened few days ago

Thanks to Carlin (Indian spotter living in Kigali) and an Air Austral crew member for the photos






Rare to see Turkish Airlines during the daylight at Kigali, but big delay (more than 6 hours) on 3Jun21. This flight was supposed to be operated by a B737, but it was operated by an A330-300. Only the overnight flight from Saturday to Sunday is currently operated by A330-300. Thansk again to Carlin, for the pix

rukundo wrote:

QR could therefore rely on 3 hubs in Africa: Casablanca, Abidjan and Kigali

Underlining is mine.
CMN and KGL are obvious, which assets or partnership do they have in Ivory Coast? AWA maybe?

Just for a comparison purpose only, can anyone provide the ET and KQ frequencies/days to US and Europe for July and August?

eastafspot wrote:

CMN and KGL are obvious, which assets or partnership do they have in Ivory Coast? AWA maybe?

They are in talks with Air Cote D'Ivoire. A perfect fit with their Rwandair investment as loss making entities with capacity to suck up unlimited state subsidy.

AWA and Qatar have already been partners since 2018. AWA used to feed the QR flights in Lagos before they started Accra service, and are still set up to feed from Freetown and Monrovia at ACC.

Anyone have intel on the continued work at NBO? How is 1b and 1c coming along? I wonder if they will be completed before Jan2022 (it began in Jan2021 and was marked as a 1 year refurbishment)

deltatrav wrote:

Anyone have intel on the continued work at NBO? How is 1b and 1c coming along? I wonder if they will be completed before Jan2022 (it began in Jan2021 and was marked as a 1 year refurbishment)

We passed through NBO in May (kgl-nbo-dar rtn) and we wanted to "visit" those terminals as duty free shops are much much cheaper than in the hub of T1A and airport staff just told us it is closed for a very long time.
If they say one year, expect 15 months at best...

eastafspot wrote:

deltatrav wrote:

Anyone have intel on the continued work at NBO? How is 1b and 1c coming along? I wonder if they will be completed before Jan2022 (it began in Jan2021 and was marked as a 1 year refurbishment)

We passed through NBO in May (kgl-nbo-dar rtn) and we wanted to "visit" those terminals as duty free shops are much much cheaper than in the hub of T1A and airport staff just told us it is closed for a very long time.
If they say one year, expect 15 months at best...

Sorry I don’t think you’ve heard of kenyan timing.

If they say one year……well then….

MileHFL400 wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

deltatrav wrote:

Anyone have intel on the continued work at NBO? How is 1b and 1c coming along? I wonder if they will be completed before Jan2022 (it began in Jan2021 and was marked as a 1 year refurbishment)

We passed through NBO in May (kgl-nbo-dar rtn) and we wanted to "visit" those terminals as duty free shops are much much cheaper than in the hub of T1A and airport staff just told us it is closed for a very long time.
If they say one year, expect 15 months at best...

Sorry I don’t think you’ve heard of kenyan timing.

If they say one year……well then….

What is your bet? In 2023 or KQ will be profitable well before the original over-ambitious completion date?

According to details obtained from Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), during May at least 77,063 passengers transited through Uganda’s only international airport, which indicated a 10.3 per cent drop from April’s 85,050 passengers.

UCAA also indicated that 1.98 million passengers had transitioned through Entebbe International Airport in 2019 but the number had in 2020 dropped to 565, 666.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/busine ... s--3441518

Just for info, Uganda is currently under a 42-day strict lockdown. Direct flights to Rwanda are suspended until further notice.

Finally, the 2020 Rwanda Statistical YearBook but before covid with sometimes old stats. https://www.statistics.gov.rw/publicati ... rbook-2020

However i wanted to share them.

2019:

Kamembe Airport: 20 559 pax
Kigali Airport: 1 124 908 pax (853 894 + 291 274)

Total Rwanda: 1 145 867 pax

From 2015 to 2019, Air trafic passengers has almost been multiplied by 2, in Rwanda. However many people coming in Rwanda still arriving by land and not by plane. Rwanda is a transit country for many people either by Air or Land. Many Travel Agencies sell tours in East Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

Arrival by Continents. Main purposes for Rwanda are VFR, Business/Conference/Official and transit ((2017). It seems that Rwanda is probably a high yield destination with not very big flux .

Africa:

1 397 019 people (almost 1 000 000 make "long" stay in Rwanda, but how many Africans can afford to fly ? 5% ? 10% . The potential is very very huge). If i remmeber DR Congo is the biggest market for Rwanda. Then Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda. I heard also Nigeria

Europe:

75 297 people. UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany are normally argest markets for Rwanda

America:

46 756 people. USA and Canada leading

Asia:

46 418. India, China, Japan and Australia are normally largest markets for Rwanda. There are also more and more South Koreans, they work mostly for Koreans NGOs

South Asia: 27 478 people East Asia: 15 868 people Middle East: 3 072 people

RwandAir to resume London with 1 weekly flight on Saturdays from Heathrow to Kigali from 10th July 2021, and adding a second flight from 20th July every Tuesday.

rukundo wrote:

2019:

Kamembe Airport: 20 559 pax

It means that daily only 57 pax departed/arrived from Kamembe, with a 67 seater Dash 8???
When did RwandAir offer 2 flights per day or 10X/week from KGL ?

AF just announced a new East African route for the winter season:

- Zanzibar (Tanzania), twice a week, starting Oct.. 18th, 787-9 operating, with a stopover in NBO both ways.

Along with KL, znz will have a lot of regular scheduled flights from EU !

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

2019:

Kamembe Airport: 20 559 pax

It means that daily only 57 pax departed/arrived from Kamembe, with a 67 seater Dash 8???
When did RwandAir offer 2 flights per day or 10X/week from KGL ?

If i remember the average load factore on RwandAir flights was between 55% and 60%. I will try to find the link of imihigo performance contracts

RwandAir doesn't serve New York


RwandAir Dream miles and Qatar Airways Privilege Club launch loyalty partnership

RwandAir has become the first - and only - Sub-Saharan African airline to launch a loyalty partnership with Qatar Airways.

The two carriers have joined forces to offer RwandAir Dream Miles and Qatar Airways Privilege Club loyalty members access to each other’s destinations with the opportunity to ‘earn and burn’ points across their reciprocal route networks.

Under the new deal, RwandAir Dream Miles members will be able to fly to more than 140 Qatar Airways destinations using miles earned by flights bought through RwandAir.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will have the ability to earn miles on RwandAir’s flights, both within Africa and on long-haul routes, to destinations such as New York and London.

https://www.arabianaerospace.aero/rwand ... rship.html

rukundo wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

rukundo wrote:

2019:

Kamembe Airport: 20 559 pax

It means that daily only 57 pax departed/arrived from Kamembe, with a 67 seater Dash 8???
When did RwandAir offer 2 flights per day or 10X/week from KGL ?

If i remember the average load factore on RwandAir flights was between 55% and 60%. I will try to find the link of imihigo performance contracts

Hope it's a mistake because it shows a daily LF of 42% ( less if flights were 2x daily or 10x weekly) on this monopolistic route.

Very nice move from QR/WB with this partnership, maybe in the near future flying RwandAir will allow earning Qpoints too.

Alot of IL-76 action in Kigali these days from UR-CIF to FlySkyAirlines

Some stats (before covid19), mainly 2019.

Brussels-Kigali:

2019: 93,557 pax (Brussels Airlines: 5-6 flights per week tag with Entebbe + RwandAir 3-4 flights per week tag with London Gatwick. SN and WB is A330-200 / 300)

Amsterdam-Kigali:

2019: 65,781 pax (daily KLM via Entebbe, in A330-200 / 300)

Dubai-Kigali:

2018: 42,000 pax (daily in B737-800 or A330-200 / 300) https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwandai ... e-dubai-17

Mumbai-Kigali :

2019: 29,384 pax (RwandAir 4 flights per week in B737-800 until June 18, 2019. Then then 3 flights per week in A330-200 / 300):

Jan-Mar: 2836 + 3806
Apr-Jun: 4122 + 5738
July-Sept: 2661 + 3115
Oct-Dec: 3682 + 3424

For India the figures on the left are traffic to India and the figures on the right are traffic from India: https://www.dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/ ... ervicename

London Gatwick-Kigali:

2019: 28,504 pax (RwandAir 3-4 flights per week in A330-200 / 300). Flights on Heathrow now

In my opinion on Europe (London and Brussels), RwandAir should be around 45,000 pax in 2019

Routesonline said that O&D traffic between Heathrow Kigali was 23,240 pax in 2019 (+ 7.7% vs 2018). It's certainly not huge, but I thought this number smaller. https://www.routesonline.com/news/29/br ... k-lax-cun/


Mumbai-Guangzhou:

2019: 14,026 pax ( RwandAir 3 flights per week in A330-200 / 300)

Apr-Jun: 543 + 458 (1st BOM-CAN flight on June 18, 2019)
July-Sept: 3234 + 2556
Oct-Dec: 3399 + 3236

https://www.dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/ ... ervicename

Interventions of RwandAir CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo in recent days

CAPA Live: https://simpleflying.com/rwandair-fleet-doubled/
Qatar Economic Forum: [b] Qatar Airways, Boeing, International Airlines Group, Rwandair CEOs on the Future of Flying [/ b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X86wogaH7dg

Carlinfern wrote:

Alot of IL-76 action in Kigali these days from UR-CIF to FlySkyAirlines

Any idea why ?
Food relief for vulnerable families ahead of the upcoming lockdown ?

eastafspot wrote:

Carlinfern wrote:

Alot of IL-76 action in Kigali these days from UR-CIF to FlySkyAirlines

Any idea why ?
Food relief for vulnerable families ahead of the upcoming lockdown ?

i know one reason cause of oxygen cylinders from rak and istanbul. i dont know why many different il76 are coming like each day so far flysky airlines ex-76003, rubystar airlines, and ur-cif

Carlinfern wrote:

eastafspot wrote:

Carlinfern wrote:

Alot of IL-76 action in Kigali these days from UR-CIF to FlySkyAirlines

Any idea why ?
Food relief for vulnerable families ahead of the upcoming lockdown ?

i know one reason cause of oxygen cylinders from rak and istanbul. i dont know why many different il76 are coming like each day so far flysky airlines ex-76003, rubystar airlines, and ur-cif

Indeed that's a lot of freighters in a such short time span.
Strange that from Istanbul, TK is not involved...

A report from a Rwandan website about pax traveling on flights between Brussels and Kigali, operated by RwandAir.

Loads seem to be good (even if this is not a guarantee of profitability and that even before the covid RwandAir was not profitable).

Ayway what is interesting is that currently the most popular destinations from Brussels with RwandAir are:

Kigali (Rwanda), then Kinshasa (DR Congo), Bujumbura (Burundi). The 3 former Belgium colonies. More surprisingly, Bangui (Central African Republic) and Accra (Ghana).

Some Rwandans arrive from some cities in Europe pass through Brussels to travel with RwandAir. Others have decided to fly with RwandAir since the airline serves London Heathrow with the possibility of making connections with flights to the USA and Canada.

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... 21.twitter

Otherwise we are "close" to an announcement about the opening of a route to Luanda (Angola)


Jul 16
@FlyRwandAir
When are you guys flying to Luanda-Angola
RwandAir
@FlyRwandAir
Hi PK, Luanda route is in our plan. The commencement date will be communicated in due course. Thank you "

https://twitter.com/FlyRwandAir/status/ ... 8624950278

Heavy fog currently over Addis Ababa, some planes are diverted to Nairobi.

https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/add


It's like thaht planes which are a few minutes to land at CDG which cannot go to Paris are diverted to ... Madrid or Rome, while London, Brussels and Luxembourg are not far away.

But 1500km in Africa, it's like 200-300km in Europe