Rwandair, the national carrier, will effective October 31, 2017 start direct flights to Brussels, Belgium. According to Chance Ndagano, the acting chief executive officer of RwandAir, the airline will operate three weekly flights on the Brussels-Kigali route on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The move addresses the challenge of the requirement for non-Schengen citizens to hold a UK transit visa and to disembark for rescreening at Gatwick Airport London.

Ndagano said: "We are confident that the new schedule will improve the experience of our esteemed clients boarding from Brussels while maintaining our schedule from London with only one stop in Brussels.”

The new schedule followed negotiations between the airline and Gatwick Airport after RwandAir suspended flights through London to Brussels in August over transit visa requirement.

London-bound passengers will now pass via Zaventem Airport in Brussels and will not need a Schengen transit visa as they will be required to stay onboard the aircraft.

RwandAir’s state of the art Airbus A330 fleet, configured in a triple class cabin and in-flight connectivity will continue to operate the Kigali-Brussels–Gatwick route and conveniently connect across Africa via Kigali International Airport.

Experts say RwandAir’s ambitious expansion strategy could help the airline position itself as a major aviation player in the next five years.

More long-haul flights in offing

Meanwhile, RwandAir is scheduled to launch flights to New York and new Asian destinations. On the African continent, the national carrier plans to start new routes to Conakry in Guinea, Bamako, Mali, Lilongwe in Malawi, and Durban in South Africa.

Recently, the airline acquired its first A330 series A330-200 and A330-300 Airbus aircraft to boost its fleet and capacity.

The IATA Operational Safety Audit certified airline carried more than 650,000 passengers last year and projects to transport over three million in the next five years.

Currently the airline operates 24 destinations, including Nairobi, Entebbe, Mombasa, Bujumbura, Mumbai, Harare, Lusaka, Juba, Douala, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Cotonou, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.