RwandAir takes off to Douala for the first time this Sunday (30/03/2014)
Kigali – March 28th, 2014. The management of RwandAir is elated to announce its first flight to Douala, Cameroon which is only two days away on Sunday 30th of March, 2014. The excitement expressed by our passengers about the new route to Douala will be fulfilled with 5 weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from the hub Kigali at 13:45pm.
Douala journeys will be operated by the Bombardier CRJ-900NG aircraft equipped with 7 Business Class and 68 Economy Class seats. The addition of Douala to the airline’s network increases their destinations to 16, an impressive growth spurt by any standard. With the arrival of the Bombardier Q 400 NextGen aircraft earlier this month, March 3rd 2014 to be precise, nobody can deny that RwandAir is off to a great start for the year 2014.
RwandAir is well-known for appropriately connecting travelers through Kigali International Airport. Small in scale, the airline and airport are competent to deliver similar transfer and tailored services to Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Johannesburg, and many more. RwandAir projects to enlarge and reveal its new routes to Middle East, Asia and Europe.
For more information contact the head of corporate communications, Anna Fye at 0784873299/ anna.fye@rwandair.com
RwandAir adds to its network a new destination Douala, Cameroon, beginning March 30th 2014.
Kigali – January 13th, 2014. The management of RwandAir is thrilled to announce their new route to Doula, Cameroon. The presentation of Douala journeys will begin on March 30th, 2014. Passengers are excited about the new network of RwandAir to Douala, with four weekly flights departing Kigali every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
RwandAir, the national flag carrier of Rwanda, will operate with the new Bombardier CRJ-900NG aircraft equipped with 7 Business Class and 68 Economy Class seats. The aircraft also operates daily services to Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Bujumbura and Brazzaville via Kigali. The airline will propose day/night flights that will permit theirs passengers to have more options.
This will make Douala the airline’s 16th destination since it rebranded its present operating name in 2009. RwandAir has known an incredible success across their West African destinations of Accra, Libreville, Brazzaville, Lagos, and the addition of Douala as its 5th destination in the region makes their presence as a major competitor felt by all other airlines. Recently, RwandAir was awarded the prize of the “Best Short Haul Airline in Africa at the 9th AKWAABA Fair in Lagos” and is part of the best and fastest growing airlines on the African continent.
RwandAir is well-known for appropriately connecting travellers through Kigali International Airport. Small in scale, the airline and airport are competent to deliver similar transfer and tailored services to Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Johannesburg, and many more. RwandAir projects to enlarge and reveal its new routes to Middle East, Asia and Europe.
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Note to Editors:
Operating from Kigali as its hub in the heart of Africa, RwandAir is one of the fastest growing airlines on the African continent. RwandAir’s fleet now consists of four Boeing 737 series aircraft and one Bombardier Dash-200 series. Two brand new Bombardier CRJ-900 NextGen regional jets arrived in November of 2012, and the next acquisition is confirmed to be the Q400 that will introduce business class to domestic routes, starting February of 2014. RwandAir serves one domestic destination, many regional cities such as Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, and Kilimanjaro. The airline also serves Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Accra, Douala and Juba in South Soudan, Libreville and Brazzaville. Abidjan in Ivory Coast is also planned for 2014. Cameroun: nouvelle destination de RwandAir
For more information contact the head of corporate communications, Anna Fye at 0784873299/ anna.fye@rwandair.com
On April 27th 2014, RwandAir’s flight WB212 touched down at exactly 16:10pm as scheduled at the Douala International Airport and was greeted by the beautiful warm weather, while dozens of media reporters had lined up with their cameras to capture this historic event.
On board the Boeing 737-800NG, ordinarily the route is served with one of RwandAir’s new B737-700NextGen aircraft, was a delegation representing the Rwandan government, members of RwandAir management and business leaders seeking to establish ties with their Cameroonian counterparts to explore investment and trade opportunities, also on board were invited media representatives.
The much anticipated event was held at the Star Land Hotel in Bonapriso. With a simple yet very reassuring statement from the leader of the Rwandan National airline, ‘We are not the kind of airline which is here today and gone tomorrow, RwandAir is here to stay’ said RwandAir CEO John Mirenge, when he addressed the invited guests, comprising of government and business leaders including key staff from the Cameroonian Civil Aviation Authority, representatives of NGO’s and all the travel agency managers and owners doing business in Douala and other parts of Cameroon.
Mr John Mirenge officiated on behalf of the Rwandan government and the visible impact of the speeches and response by those in the room made it evident that the two countries indeed have developed strong ties. In the four weeks since the airline started its Douala route, RwandAir’s launch fares have swept the market by storm. Between speeches, the guests were entertained by the amazing Rwandan traditional dances troop, and the prizes RwandAir had brought along which included offering tickets to various destinations across their network, was a huge crowd pleaser.
RwandAir is well-known for appropriately connecting travellers through Kigali International Airport. Small in scale, the airline and airport are competent to deliver similar transfer and tailored services to Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Johannesburg, and many more. RwandAir projects to enlarge and reveal its new routes to Middle East, Asia and Europe.
For more information contact the head of corporate communications, Anna Fye at 0784873299/ anna.fye@rwandair.com
On June 6th 2014, RwandAir announced 32 year old, Nigerian native, Adebowale Julius Jayeola Adenekan as the winner of the grand prize in the Independence Prizes promotion that took place in Lagos, Nigeria. The promotion was announced on July of 2013 with the grand prize being a brand new KIA Rio.
Apart from the Grand Prize, other prizes won at the Grand Draw included a family holiday package for 2 to Johannesburg ( Business class tickets for 2 adults and 2 nights hotel accommodation) and a holiday package for 2 to Kigali (Business class tickets and 2 nights hotel accommodation). There were also monthly draws during the period when the promotion was being run. The lucky winners enjoyed free flights to destinations on the RwandAir network like Kigali, Mombasa and Bujumbura among others
In a ceremony organized by RwandAir at the Eko Hotel in Lagos, the lucky winner was handed his generous prize in front of a large number of attendees. Among the attendees was the Rwanda Ambassador to Nigeria His Excellency Joseph Habineza. The airline was also well represented by Mrs Josephine Rurangwa RwandAir’s Country Manager in Nigeria as well as several airline staff from the Lagos branch. Members of the press were also present to cover this exciting event.
The promotion was initially started as a show of appreciation to the airline’s loyal customers situated in Nigeria. It was intended to reward these customers for their loyalty towards the airline, and as a token of gratitude towards the growing business opportunities between the two countries. Indeed, the reaction and participation to the promotion proved to the airline yet again how valuable Lagos and Nigeria are as a destination.
For more information or comments, please contact us on the following address: communications@ rwandair.com
On Friday June 20th 2014, RwandAir commemorated its employees who past away during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. This event included a visit to the memorial site of Nyamata and thereafter to 30 families of orphans, widows/ widowers in Murambi community, thanks to Rwandair’s management.
Amongst the activities, Rwandair was able to donate a total of 7000,000 Frws which was used to renovate five houses of the poorest families, bought food stuff and contributed to the up keep of the memorial site. “Like we have always done in past, I re-affirm that our partnership will be an ongoing one to ensure Rwandair impacts lives of the people in Murambi community”, said John Mirenge, CEO Rwandair in his speech.
RwandAir concluded the day at Hilltop Hotel in Remera where all employees of RwandAir met for a moment of testimonies made by the families of former employees of Air Rwanda (former name of RwandAir), representatives from CNLG and FARG, plus heads of police and army from kicukiro district.
The journey was full of emotions and we were more than proud to be part of the “Remember – Unite – Renew” spirit.
For more information or comments, please contact the person responsible for communication RwandAir by phone at 0788300847 or by email at the following address: charles.gashumba @ rwandair.com
On July 1st 2014, “Kwita Izina”(naming the baby gorilla) event happened for the 10th time in the Volcanoes National Park in Kinigi, Musanze district; under the theme ” A decade: conserving, empowering, growing”
Rwanda achieved another milestone in conserving and promoting the wildlife agenda. The government of Rwanda through RDB (Rwanda Development Board) hosted a ceremony to name 18baby gorillas through the now world famous kwita izina event.
This week-long festivity included the Basumba school launch, the kwita izina umuganda, a b2b meeting, a community exhibition, igitaramo and finally the gorilla naming ceremony.
It is said that over 5,000 world tourists and guests have flown in to Rwanda to join in the efforts to “conserve, empower and grow.” This much needed campaign is to support the tourism industry but most importantly conserve these beautiful and rare primates.
Major supporters like: EAT (East African Tourism), Nyungwe Lodge and RwandAir are some of the sponsors for this important event.
RwandAir CEO, John Mirenge who attended the event, has been given the privilege of naming one of the 18 new baby gorillas. He named it “Kwigira” which means “to learn from” or, in another context “to be self sufficient” just like Rwandans are learning from their past to become self reliant.
The “Kwita izina” event was a major success in assisting Rwanda to conserve its wildlife and promote tourism.
It has sparked a major awareness throughout the world to preserve these near to extinct species. RwandAir is proud to have been part of it and is committed in joining its efforts with RDB to help “conserving-empowering-growing”.
For more information or comments, please contact us on the following address: communications@ rwandair.com
Kigali, July 23rd 2014 – Rwanda Private Sector Federation in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry as a custom organizes an annual exhibition “Rwanda International Trade Fair” commonly referred to as “Expo”. Many companies ranging from private, government, local and international are always in attendance to exhibit their products and services to potential customers while creating awareness around their brands.
Important to note is that this year we have a couple of exhibitors from 15 participating countries, such as UAE, Iran, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Singapore with many more from the African continent. The number of stands, compared to last year, went up due to a rise in demand from around 400 to over 700, reflecting how trade and industry rank the Kigali trade show.
Among these companies, RwandAir is proud to participate not only as a key sponsor but also as an exhibitor and will surely surpass your expectations. The expo will run for a period of two weeks commencing on July 23rd till August 6th 2014; and July 24th 2014 being the official opening day.
For more information, please contact our communication team at communications@rwandair.com
Kigali – Wednesday 24th July, 2014. RwandAir is pleased to announce the launch of its new and fully-featured website mobile version @ www.rwandair.com. The new appearance of the website is sleek and elegant and is full of new and improved features, such as new imagery, all our social media pages integrated to the website (Facebook, twitter, YouTube and Instagram) which allows our customers to follow live feeds of our social media. More importantly it is developed to make the site more user-friendly and encourage customer interaction.
Being our number one marketing tool RwandAir’s website Mobile Version is designed to perfectly assist customers in every way to suit their travel needs. One of the website’s exciting features is the inclusion of live customer care so travellers can interact directly with Rwandair services. Customers can book and Pay using the improved online systems to take advantage of last minute deals.
RwandAir continues to improve all aspects of its operations with new and refreshing ideas to keep our customers well informed and satisfied. Our goal is to always be easily accessible through interactive platforms with the main focus being on our customer’s satisfaction.
For more information, please contact our communication team at communications@rwandair.com
Note to Editors: Operating from Kigali as its hub in the heart of Africa, RwandAir is one of the fastest growing airlines on the African continent. RwandAir’s fleet now consists of Two Boeing 737-700NG, Two Bombardier CRJ-900 NextGen, One Brand new Bombardier Q-400 Next Gen and Two Boeing 737-800NG. RwandAir serves one domestic destination, many regional cities such as Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, and Kilimanjaro. The airline also serves Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Accra, Juba Libreville and Brazzaville, Douala in Cameroon. Abidjan in Ivory Coast is also planned to be added to our destinations by 2015
Kigali- Thursday 31st July 2014. Following the recent outbreak of Ebola in some parts of Western Africa, RwandAir is assuring its passengers that their well-being and safety is and will remain its priority. We are alert and measures have been taken.
Important to note is that Ebola is transmitted through the contact of body fluids of an ill person. During the incubation phase (1-21 days) the person infected with the virus is well enough to travel and cannot pass on the disease or be contagious. When the symptoms still come after the incubation phase, the infected person is too weak to travel and becomes confined to bed.
“Rwandair is working closely with our Ministry of Health, the National Civil Aviation Authority, Migration services and the Countries where we fly to ensure the Ebola does not spread further ” says John Mirenge, CEO of RwandAir. RwandAir has put in place some measures to ensure the safety of our valued customers and staff:
For more information, please contact the communication team at communications@rwandair.com
Kigali – July 31st 2014. Effective 4th August 2014, RwandAir will commence new operations between Entebbe and Juba in South Sudan following the recently granted 5th freedom traffic rights from Uganda to South Sudan by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority.
RwandAir will operate daily flights with a CRJ-900 and Boeing 737-700 aircraft with a two class service, business and economy.
“We are delighted to further strengthen our regional operations with today’s increase of frequency from Uganda to South Sudan and we hope this will serve as a key link for business and trade between the two countries”, commented Mr. John Mirenge, RwandAir Chief Executive Officer
Every Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, flights will depart Entebbe at 07:00am arriving Juba at 08:00am and return from Juba at 08:55am arriving Entebbe at 10:05am. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays flights will depart Entebbe at 3:35pm arriving in Juba at 4:45pm and returning from Juba at 5:30pm to arrive back in Entebbe at 6:40pm.
Mr. Jean Paul Nyirubutama, RwandAir’s Deputy CEO and COO added that, “this new schedule, in addition to connecting Juba to Entebbe, will also provide it with seamless connections to the entire RwandAir network and in particular to Kigali, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos, Accra, Dar es Salaam and Dubai.
Operating from Kigali as its hub in the heart of Africa, RwandAir is one of the fastest growing airlines on the African continent. RwandAir’s fleet of an average of less than 3 years consist of two B737-800 NG Sky interior, two B737-700, two CRJ-900NG and one Q-400. RwandAir destinations include Kigali, Kamembe, Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Accra, Douala, Juba, Libreville and Brazzaville. In 2013, RwandAir was awarded the best short haul airline in Africa from Akwaaba/ African Trade Market.
For more information, please contact our communication team at communications@rwandair.com
Kigali, Thursday August 7th 2014 – RwandAir wishes to inform the public, in agreement with the ministry of health, there is actually no case confirmed or suspected of Ebola in Rwanda at this time.
The Ministry of Health is closely monitoring the situation and several measures have been established including raising awareness among the travelers, flights attendants, staff at airports and border ports; educating and sensitizing the general population on prevention, symptoms and mode of transmission of Ebola.
“RwandAir wants to reassure all its esteemed travelers and partners that we haven’t had or accepted an affected person or suspected to be sick on any of our planes,” added the CEO of RwandAir, Mr. John Mirenge. All our staff, from pilots, to crew members to staff at the ground have been trained and educated on the symptoms of Ebola, how to recognize early signs and how to handle it.
As these are mere rumours and patently untrue we request to refrain from spreading such unfounded speculation but remain vigilant and alert.
For more information please contact our communication team at: communications@rwandair.com.
Following the outbreak of the Ebola virus in west Africa, RwandAir wishes to inform our esteemed clients that we will be adhering to the instructions below from the Ministry of Health.
All measures are in line with prevention against the transmission of the Ebola Virus.