Africa-Press – Rwanda. RwandAir has announced the upcoming launch of two new routes—to Mombasa, Kenya, and Zanzibar, Tanzania—by the end of 2025, as part of its broader strategy to expand regional and global connectivity, as well as boost passenger numbers.
Speaking at the 2025 Aviation Africa Summit & Exhibition in Kigali on Thursday, September 4, RwandAir chief executive Yvonne Makolo said there’s growing demand for passenger and cargo flights in the region.
The airline anticipates some 1.2 million passengers during the current financial year, which ends in June 2026, up from just over 1 million in 2023/2024.
Makolo said RwandAir was bouncing back from a challenging year that included DR Congo’s blockage of airspace, which caused disruptions, prompting a reevaluation of the airline’s network.
“We had to stop a few routes, but we’re opening up other routes in the east as well. We’re looking at Mombasa and Zanzibar as the more immediate ones, which are coming up,” she said.
“We’re seeing fantastic growth. This summer has been great, and we expect that to continue. There’s a lot of demand for both on the passenger side and cargo side. So, we’re very excited about the future growth of the airline.”
RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo speaks during the Aviation Africa Summit at Kigali Convention Centre on Friday, September 4.
The announcement of new routes comes less than two weeks after the airline said it had acquired two Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Each aircraft is configured with 12 Business Class and 162 Economy Class seats, bringing a combined capacity of 348 passengers. These aircraft will primarily serve short and medium-haul destinations, RwandAir said.
High-performing routes and strategic partnership
RwandAir’s long-haul routes have been instrumental in driving recent growth, while regional routes were also a contributing factor.
“Our long-haul routes, London is doing very, very well; our Doha route is doing extremely well. Our Europe route is doing well, as well as our regional routes, Entebbe, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Bujumbura. All those have performed extremely well,” Makolo said.
She noted that RwandAir’s extensive commercial partnership with Qatar Airways in terms of code-share agreement, pointing out that through such an arrangement the national carrier offers more destinations.
This gives the airline scale without deploying its own aircraft, and it’s working very well, she said.
“With RwandAir being a relatively small airline, we operate 20-plus routes by ourselves. But with the partnership — the code share that we do have — it adds another 100-plus routes to our network,” Makolo stated.
The chief executive said such partnerships are necessary, not just internationally but also among African carriers, to overcome limitations in aircraft availability and high operational costs across the continent.
RwandAir currently operates a fleet of 16 aircraft and plans to grow to 21 by 2029. The two newly delivered 737-800s mark a step in that direction. Another aircraft – a wide-body Airbus A330-200 – is expected by the end of 2025.
According to Rwanda’s Transport Sector Strategic Plan 2024-2029, RwandAir’s destinations are projected to increase from 23 in 2023/24 to 29 in 2028/29.
Under the same strategic plan, the number of passengers is expected to more than double from slightly over 1 million in 2023/24 to 2.1 million by 2028/29.
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