Last time I heard Rwandair where starting service to London Gatwick on the 24th January. Did it commence? Will it ever commence if it hasn't yet?

no, it didn't.

It's gone very quiet regarding Rwandair launching Kigali to LGW flights considering quite a few statements about it online suggesting a January 2017 start, hopefully we will know sooner or later, the same could be said about Fly Goldstar launching Accra to LGW no recent updates on that either.

Mumbai, planned to be launched in September 2016, will welcome the African B737 next April.
So I presume that Londoners will be able to spot the East African carrier, at best, in August this year or most likely in 2018

It could be slot problems that have delayed this

I should imagine that Rwandair would want an evening slot at LGW which shouldnt be to much of a problem so they could fly overnight from LGW to Kigali and a day time flight from Kigali to LGW. that's my guess anyway!

Rwandair would need at least two more A330-200s to make this work; they currently only have one A330-200, and that could eventually head to Mumbai and farther on into the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Airfleets.net Rwandair has one A330-200 and one A330-300 in their fleet, when I was referring to the LGW flights I wasn't thinking dally more like three flights a week which could easily be accomplished with either of the aircraft along with Mumbai.

Cunard wrote:

According to Airfleets.net Rwandair has one A330-200 and one A330-300 in their fleet, when I was referring to the LGW flights I wasn't thinking dally more like three flights a week which could easily be accomplished with either of the aircraft along with Mumbai.

Wasn't Mumbai supposed to be a 737?

MalevTU134 wrote:

Cunard wrote:

According to Airfleets.net Rwandair has one A330-200 and one A330-300 in their fleet, when I was referring to the LGW flights I wasn't thinking dally more like three flights a week which could easily be accomplished with either of the aircraft along with Mumbai.

Wasn't Mumbai supposed to be a 737?

Yes. Dubai is the other 330 destination IIRC

Read on tiwtter last week:

Georgie Ndirangu‏Compte certifié @georgiendirangu 13 mars

Awaiting official announcement: Rwandair was set to launch direct flights to Gatwick (U.K.) in Jan 2017.

Dates now expected: 21st May.
1 réponse 15 Retweets 22 j'aime

RwandAir‏Compte certifié @FlyRwandAir 13 mars

@georgiendirangu Our plan is to start in the second week of May 2017.

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&q=r ... y&src=typd

Flights to London, should be operated via Entebbe (Uganda). The airline hopes to start a Kigali-Bamako (Mali) route (with a stop via Conakry (Guinea) i guess), from June 2017. RwandAir has recently signed BASA with Mali, to get 5th freedom rights. In 2016, they signed a similar agreement with Guinea. http://afrique.latribune.fr/entreprises ... chain.html (French).

A RwandAir team was also at Dakar, few weeks ago, to make a feasibility study with the aim to serve Dakar, in a near future: https://twitter.com/RwandainSenegal/sta ... 5345952769

During Aviation Africa Summit at Kigali, last month, we could see Rwanda president with a C-Series model, wearing the RwandAir livery (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135275800 ... ateposted/). I know that an African airline signed a letter of intention in 2014, for 5 C-Series (it's not an order). Hints were the hub is located at a high altitude and the airline operates both Q400 & CRJ. It seems that Airlink will use ERJ-190s, Lagos is not located at a high altitude and it's clearly not Air Tanzania.

http://www.bombardier.com/en/media/news ... ercom.html

I guess it's RwandAir. They have 2 10 years old leased B737-700s (ex Air Berlin). C-Serie is probably the good aircraft to replace them, in coming years.

MalevTU134 wrote:

Cunard wrote:
According to Airfleets.net Rwandair has one A330-200 and one A330-300 in their fleet, when I was referring to the LGW flights I wasn't thinking dally more like three flights a week which could easily be accomplished with either of the aircraft along with Mumbai.


Wasn't Mumbai supposed to be a 737?

Yes. Dubai is the other 330 destination IIRC

Currently the A330s, fly daily to Dubai, and weekly to Accra & Lagos and sometimes to Nairobi. They also operate flights to South Sudan & Central African Republic, for Rwandans soldiers deployed in UN Missions.

From May 2017, A330s will fly:

3 times a week to London (according RwandAir UK Twitter page:https://twitter.com/RwandAir_UK/status/801367335600787456), probably a daystop.
3 times a week to Lagos, but probably more, because, they closed Accra Abidjan route. All Accra flights are now again operated via Lagos. Abidjan is served via Douala and Libreville.
4 times a week to Dubai (daystop). The Dubai service via Mombasa is downgraded to a B737-800, but they could use A330,
Johannesburg and Nairobi, will probably see the A330, on the morning flight, depending the number of pax arriving from Mumbai and London,
About Mumbai, they want to test the demand. If the demand is strong, they will put the A330

It's nice WB expanding and how they are turning Entebbe airport into a mini hub with 3(or 4) weekly flights to London, 7 to Juba and 14 to Nairobi.
WB will probably remove one of the KGL-EBB frequencies to put the A330 flight.

Unlike ACC, DXB and LOS, do you know if premium economy will be sold on flights to LGW? I hope so, because unfortunately it's already a huge waste of money this 3 class idea...

Hope this is soon confirmed. It's definitely a positive step to help Rwanda develop and open up. Africa needs more connectivity, preferably with her home grown airlines leading the way, rather than homegrown entities making all the profits.

I can't see how this is going to work. Ethiopian and Kenyan already have daily London nonstop service connecting to points in East and Southern Africa. Can RWandair just copy what they are doing and be successful?

RwandAir has also expended agreements with Brussels Airlines: http://allafrica.com/stories/2017022301 ... s%3Aabmrjk

Brussels Airlines flights (inbound & outbound) will match with RwandAir flights to Dar Es Salaam, Bujumbura, Johannesburg, Lusaka, Harare, Nairobi & Entebbe. A good way to feed the Kigali Brussels route. And you can connect with Brussels Airlines hub (Europe and North America)

Unlike ACC, DXB and LOS, do you know if premium economy will be sold on flights to LGW? I hope so, because unfortunately it's already a huge waste of money this 3 class idea...

According to their UK twitter page, you will able to book on Y+

RwandAir UK‏ @RwandAir_UK 1 déc. 2016

Enjoy 38” of legroom and a wide recline in Premium Economy.
Exclusively on our Airbus A330 aircraft from @Gatwick_Airport to #Kigali! #RT

https://twitter.com/RwandAir_UK/status/ ... 3193439232

I can't see how this is going to work. Ethiopian and Kenyan already have daily London nonstop service connecting to points in East and Southern Africa. Can Rwandair just copy what they are doing and be successful?

Probably price, they are often cheaper than Kenya Airways. About Ethiopian Airlines, they have code share agreements (only on double daily Kigali Addis Ababa service), but i guess pax will able to use Kigali and Addis Ababa hubs, because they are 2 partners airlines.

Ex: Heathrow-Addis Ababa--Nairobi-Kigali-Gatwick (but i admit it's not really convenient, if you go to heathrow with your own car^^)

I think also, pax will able also to connect to the Central Africa network (Cameroon, Gabon, and Gabon). Among these 3 countries, Cameroon is probably the biggest market for UK.

Accra and Lagos is probably too far to attract "many" pax from UK (probably nearly 20h for a London-Kigali-Lagos journey).

Bookings are now open. Flights should start from 26 May 2017, no stop at Entebbe (for the moment), using mainly A330-200.

Timetables match with flights to East and Southern Africa, even with some flights to Central Africa. Some flights from Douala and Libreville will be operated during the night, like flights to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia & Zimbabwe (early morning arrivals between 6h10 and 7h). With Dubai and Mumbai flights which arrive at 5h00-5h15, Kigali will be busy during the morning.

From Africa to London, connecting time will be about 6h, from London to Africa will be about 2h-2h30 (morning departures between 9h00 and 9h30 for East, Central, Southern and West Africa flights).

Probably price, they are often cheaper than Kenya Airways. About Ethiopian Airlines, they have code share agreements (only on double daily Kigali Addis Ababa service), but i guess pax will able to use Kigali and Addis Ababa hubs, because they are 2 partners airlines.

I have forgotten to talk about Kigali Airport, which is among 10 best Regional Airports in Africa (SkyTrax), since, its upgrade, in 2014, as well one the best to sleep in Africa, according some surveys^^.

RwandAir will also open its own lounge (it probably already the case)

1220 departure from KGL isn't going to generate much feed. They appear to have an arrival from DXB at 1040 and from NBO-EBB (tagged) at 1150.
Are they going to change their schedules at KGL? If not this flight is going to be disastrous, no?

Don't forget that Kigali and Rwandair also cover a large chunk of eastern Congo (DRC). Despite the tense relationship between the 2 countries (no flights between Kinshasa and Kigali), Kigali is the main airport for eastern Congo. (Goma only has one flight a day to Addis and is as easy or as difficult to get from Bukavu to Kigali as it is to get from Bukavu to Goma)

Pleasantly surprised, I thought the flight would come much later...

AF022 wrote:

1220 departure from KGL isn't going to generate much feed. They appear to have an arrival from DXB at 1040 and from NBO-EBB (tagged) at 1150.
Are they going to change their schedules at KGL? If not this flight is going to be disastrous, no?

There are few night "shifts" à la KQ and ET, to/from East and Southern Africa though not too much. In term of pricing, for what i've checked they are often the cheapest but far from being meaningful, maybe the marketing will launch special promos soon to fill the planes and tap into new market like odd DXB-KGL-LGW or BOM-KGL-LGW (which can not be done with KQ btw...)

A couple of years ago, when departing from Accra, Brazzaville, Douala and Lagos, RwandAir was offering a generous free night and city tour while transiting through Kigali (which could be great also for long layovers):

https://www.rwandair.com/Special-offers ... From-ACCRA

Let me just check if it's still up to date and maybe available nowadays for more destinations ...

The East African Skies are quiet busy, let's hope there is enough room for everyone