RwandaAir not worried of competition - CEO

RwandAir wont be affected by the presence of new airline companies that have already applied to ply the Kigali route.RwandAir’s CEO, Rene Janata said that his company expects a little bit of competition, but it will not affect the national carrier’s operations. This year alone, Air Uganda joined the market, KLM is opening up flights to Kigali in October and South African Express is also ready to launch flights to Kigali. “Competition is always good but we will be looking forward to partnering with them in an organised manner, than competing with them,” Janata said. SA Express Airways is one of the fastest growing regional airlines in Africa and forms part of the strong South African Airways alliance. The airline is operationally independent of SAA, its flights are incorporated within the Alliance and the airline uses SAA reservations and check-in facilities. Janata also added that the carrier might reschedule some of the flights accordingly so as not to have the same flying schedules with these airlines. The issue regarding the increase to check-in points at the airport to handle the growing traffic, Janata said that 8 more checking-in counters, more terminals and the departure are expected to be extended soon. “It’s already decided by the government because more airlines are coming in,” He added Also speaking of plans to increase the terminals and extra check-in points at the airport, Civil Aviation Authority, Director General, Dr. Richard Masozera said that it is in the authority’s expansion plans and they will be looking at reconfiguring the grounds. The CAA boss also revealed that this year they are expecting 30,000 passengers traffic this year and recently Masozera told Business Times that passengers by increased by 47 percent. Attributing the boost to the fact that existing airlines are also feeding other international carriers to and from Rwanda. SA Express operates some of the world’s most sophisticated aircraft. Two 74-seater De Havilland Dash 8 Q400’s form part SA Express’ elite fleet. They also operate the Canadair Regional Jet Series 200 BER. KLM is a Royal Dutch Airlines Netherlands and is part of Air France-KLM. Ends

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RwandaAir not worried of competition - CEO