Akbar Al Baker - Afrikan Heroes

Qatar Airways Details Its Partnership With RwandAir

August 6, 2021

Qatar Airways has officially inked an interline agreement with RwandAir, deepening their partnership. The move will allow travelers on both carriers to access over 160 destinations across the networks from their hubs. The agreement comes just weeks after the pair linked their miles schemes to allow passengers to earn on all flights.

In a statement this week, Qatar Airways announced the new interline agreement with RwandAir. The move will allow passengers to book flights across both airlines’ networks as though they were flying the same airline, flying via their hubs in Doha and Kigali.

In total, the agreement extends to an astounding 160 cities globally, giving passengers lots of choices now. This is in addition to Qatar and RwandAir’s decision to offer frequent flyer reciprocity, allowing passengers to earn and use their miles on any airline.

Both airlines have much to gain from the new partnership, which will only become more prominent once international travel bounces back. Photo: RwandAir

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has always been optimistic about the RwandAir purchase and strategy. He reiterated the same view in a statement this week, saying,

“This partnership cements our commitment to giving travellers the widest choice of destinations, while providing a seamless, high quality travel experience, which is the goal of both Qatar Airways and RwandAir. Africa is a hugely important market for us and this latest partnership will help support the recovery of international air travel and offer unrivalled connectivity to and from a number of new African destinations.”

In February 2020, Qatar Airways acquired a 49% stake in RwandAir, giving it a huge advantage in the African market. This market was quickly growing more prominent for the bustling international airline, with new routes popping up even during the pandemic.

With the new interline agreement; Qatar Airways will be able to use Kigali as a partner hub for destinations across the continent. Meanwhile, RwandAir will offer its passengers connections across the globe, including lucrative European routes, all with a stop in Doha.

Qatar Airways will continue flying five-time weekly service to Kigali (via Entebbe) in the future, opting for the Boeing 787-8 on this route. However, when demand increases, we could see nonstop flights and higher frequencies. A RwandAir service to Doha cannot be ruled out either, given the new potential for traffic.

Qatar Airways is currently in the middle of a busy summer season, with hundreds of destinations back on the map. The carrier is currently seeing over 300 daily aircraft movements and carrying up to 90,000 passengers every day. This comes as the industry makes a strong recovery on the back of quick vaccine rollouts in several countries.

For now, expect to see Qatar and RwandAir work more closely in the coming months and years. If predictions hold true, Qatar Airways has a lot to gain from the new partnership, and RwandAir will be on track to become a major African player soon.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Qatar Airways Ramps Up Potential in RwandAir Partnership

June 5, 2021

Early this year, Qatar Airways announced intentions to purchase a 49% stake in Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir. Qatar airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker has outlined the importance of this partnership with the central African carrier and the proposed takeover. Qatar Airways has multiple partnerships with airlines around the world. This means that if the Middle Eastern giant doesn’t serve an area, it likely offers a connection with somebody who does. One area of keen interest to the airline is the continent of Africa, with Al Baker calling it the most unserved continent.

According to Akbar Al Baker, “Africa is the most unserved continent, and the airlines that are serving them are taking the passengers to the cleaners. My job is to provide them a world-class airport and partner with RwandAir to give them the kind of service we provide in Qatar Airways.”

It’s not just the airline that Qatar Airways is interested in. The airline is actively involved in the construction of the Bugesera Airport around 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

According to previous reporting from ch-aviation.com, Qatar Airways signed a deal with the Rwandan government for 60% of the airport, valued at $780 million at the time. The deal includes three separate agreements concerning, Building the airport, Owning the airport and Operating the airport (BOO).

RwandAir was founded in 2009 following a rebrand from RwandAir Express, which was active from 2002 to 2009. The airline serves 26 destinations spread across 20 countries and 42 routes. One of the airline’s more exciting routes is operating a fifth freedom to Guangzhou via India’s Mumbai. Of course, the route was impacted by the current situation faced by the global aviation industry.

Across a fleet of ten active and two inactive aircraft, the airline has a capacity of 1,658 seats. RwandAir owns seven of its 12 jets,1x Airbus A330-200,1x Airbus A330-300,2x Boeing 737-800,2x CRJ900ER,1x Dash 8 Q400. The remaining five are leased from AerCap (1x 737-700), ALC (2x Boeing 737-800), Dara Aviation (1x Boeing 737-700), and Montrose Global (1x Dash 8 Q400).

The airline did have commitments for two new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft alongside two new A330neo jets. These were due to be delivered from leasing companies. In September, it was revealed that the airline would not be taking these jets, instead looking to lease equivalent jets from its Qatar Airways partnership. Qatar had been using a similar approach with its partner Air Italy before it ceased flights.