Why it matters:
- Reliability is one of the most important factors for passenger loyalty. By strengthening its fleet, RwandAir can rebuild trust with customers, reduce cancellations, and show resilience after disruption.
- Africa’s aviation market is still underserved in terms of direct intra-continental connections. More reliable regional flights strengthen trade, tourism, and business connectivity, supporting the African Union’s Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) goals.
RwandAir has received two Boeing 737-800 aircraft this month, one of which is already in operation. Additionally, newly serviced aircraft are returning to operations, and a third aircraft is expected in Q4 of this year. These added aircraft will significantly enhance service and operations, thereby reducing delays and cancellations.
In recent months, RwandAir has experienced several unexpected technical disruptions across parts of its fleet, which temporarily reduced the number of aircraft available for operations. This led to service adjustments that regrettably affected their customers’ travel plans, but have now been fixed, with the affected aircraft successfully returned to service.
RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo said: “RwandAir is pleased to have resolved the challenges to our schedules over the last weeks, and to welcome our aircraft back into operation. We would like to sincerely apologise to all of our customers whose travel plans were disrupted during this period and thank them for their patience while we worked on service disruptions. Together with the arrival of new aircraft, the strengthened fleet will enable RwandAir to improve reliability, strengthen our schedules, and deliver an even better travel experience to all our passengers.”
The Boeing 737-800s are configured with 12 Business Class seats and 162 Economy Class seats, will primarily operate on short and medium-haul flights. Later this year in Q4, RwandAir anticipates the delivery of a wide-body Airbus A330-200, further enabling the airline to enhance its long-haul operations between Africa and global destinations.
The new aircraft additions reinforce RwandAir’s commitment to modernising its fleet and expanding its route networks. The investment in both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft reflects RwandAir’s strategic focus on intra-Africa travel and its goal of connecting Africa to the world.
