THE first direct air link between
Cape Town and Harare opened
on May 16 with the arrival in the
Mother City of RwandAir’s flight from
Kigali via Harare.
The Zimbabwean government granted
Fifth Freedom rights to Rwanda’s flag
carrier, allowing RwandAir to carry
passengers from Kigali to Harare, drop
off and pick up more passengers there
and continue to Cape Town, doing the
same on the return leg.
RwandAir will initially serve the
route four times a week (Mondays,
Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays)
using a Bombardier CRJ900 Next
Gen two-class 75-seat regional jet.
Country manager, Thembela Dladla,
says, depending on demand, the
airline intends to increase services
and upgrade to a B737-800 at certain
times of the year.
Gavin Simpson, ceo of Holiday
Aviation (RwandAir’s GSA), says
RwandAir’s offices for reservations,
ticketing, sales and support services
at Cape Town International Airport are
fully operational. Reservations are
also available on all GDSs. Forward
bookings are mostly being received
from the travel trade.
“We have already appointed a sales
manager in Cape Town. Her feedback
is that there are a lot of TMCs that are
looking for a direct service between
Cape Town and Harare. A lot of TMCs
have already started negotiating with
her to potentially enter into corporate
agreements.”
Cape Town Air Access project
manager, Paul van den Brink, says
RwandAir’s West Africa route network
will add value to Cape Town, making it
easier to connect via Kigali to
West Africa.
Cape Town is the 26th
destination on RwandAir’s
route network, which spans
Africa, the Middle East,
Europe and Asia in support of
a growing Rwandan economy.
Fifth Freedom flights from
Kigali via Abuja to Accra were
introduced three weeks ago.
Sonia Kamikazi, the airline’s
quality assurance director,
says flights to Bamako in Mali
and Conakry in Guinea are
to follow soon. A service to
New York’s JFK International
Airport is planned in 2019.
Guangzhou in China is also
on the cards, subsequent to
the delivery of a third Airbus
A330 later this year. She
says RwandAir’s competitive
advantage is the central
African location of Kigali, its
main hub. Its secondary hub
in Cotonou, Benin, serves
West Africa. International
destinations include Mumbai,
Brussels, London and Dubai.
Thembela says Rwanda’s
strongest selling points
include its strong focus
on attracting tourism
and business/incentive/
conferencing through the
Kigali Convention Centre,
the presence of well-known
hotel brands, visas issued on
arrival and the ease of doing
business in Kigali.
