UPDATE: RwandAir's Boeing 737-800NG, christened Kalisimbi, has landed at Kigali International Airport today at 4.00pm.

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The national carrier, RwandAir’s latest acquisition Boeing 737-800NG is expected in Kigali today (4PM), having left Seattle, United States on Monday.

The Boeing aircraft is the first of two new orders from the American manufacturer.

The new aircraft christened ‘Kalisimbi’ is expected to increase the airline’s fleet to ten aircraft and it is expected to facilitate the carrier’s growing routes on the continent and beyond.

The airline in September acquired brand new Airbus 330-200, -nicknamed ‘Ubumwe’ (unity).

The expansion of the fleet is at a time when the airline is preparing to start flights to Gatwick, London’s second-busiest airport next year and is also eyeing the American market in the course of 2017.

In recent months the airline has launched flights to Cotonou, Benin and Abidjan, ivory coastbring the total number of destinations to 19 destinations.

Others include including Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Lusaka, Juba, Douala, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Cotonou, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.

The airline is also set to open routes to Harare in Zimbabwe and Mumbai, India in coming days.

The expansion is also based on projections that the airline’s capacity could grow from the current 500,000 passengers annually to more than 3,000,000 in the next five years.

RwandAir is IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certified. The globally-recognised and accepted evaluation certification confirms that the airline’s operational management and control systems meet international civil aviation safety and other standards.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw