RwandAir to commence daily flights to Lagos to connect Mumbai, Guangzhou

East African carrier, RwandAir, is to begin daily flight services between Kigali and Lagos, beginning from October 1, 2016.

 “This is just as the airline plans to connect flight services between Lagos and its hub in Kigali into far eastern routes, including Mumbai in India and Guangzhou in China,” Ibiyemi Odusi, RwandAir country manager, said.

 Part of the reasons the airline decided to operate into these routes, she said, is to bridge in services by the airlines operating on the route.

 Odusi said the airline would deploy a bigger aircraft on the route to give passengers value for their money.

She also spoke of plans by the airline to extend flight services between Kigali and China as well as Mumbai in India.

According to her, “We are planning to launch two new routes for the Nigerian market. They are Mumbai and Guangzhou in China. We did our marketing research and discovered that Nigeria has a need for more carriers into the far eastern routes, and as a strong player on our current routes; we thought there was a great need to satisfy our passengers.

 “By September, RwandAir is taking delivery of an Airbus  A330, with a flat bed in business class, free onboard WIFI, mobile network, world-class in-flight entertainment, which will serve these new routes.

 By December, we will take delivery of another Airbus to further service the routes to complement our Nigerian routes. As an airline, we feel the need to empathise with our customers, by giving them quality aircraft as travel time increases on routes.” 

 The country manager said the airline has pursued an ambitious fleet growth programme with eight aircraft in service in the four years of its existence, adding that before the end of the year, the number of aircraft on the fleet of RwandAir would have increased to ten new brand equipment.

 She said the carrier would offer Nigerian passengers generous baggage allowance on the new routes it has introduced, with a bigger aircraft that would give them enough space for their baggage in addition to offering competitive fares to attract passengers interested in medical tourism in India.

 Odusi said, “There is a huge gap in flight services for Nigerians interested in flying into Mumbai and Guangzhou. The numbers of airlines flying into these routes are not enough. That is why RwandAir is tapping into this opportunity, to further add value to our passengers. 

 She spoke of plans by the airline to expand flights into more African destinations, including Khartoun in Sudan, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire and Cotonou in Benin Republic and other African cities.

  She explained that if the single airspace policy for Africa were accelerated, the challenge of intra – African connections, which has affected many passengers would be eliminated, as carriers could easily fly into different countries without the restrictions that hold them back.

 IFEOMA OKEKE