Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir is set to launch direct flights between London Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom and Kigali International Airport (KGL) from 6 November 2022 after dropping the route’s stopover in Brussels.
The new direct flights will operate four times a week with its Airbus A330 fleet, an increase from the airline’s current indirect three times a week service.
According to Simple Flying, the airline currently operates three weekly flights between Kigali and London involving a brief stopover in Brussels. Yvonne Makolo, RwandAir CEO, said, “We are excited to be launching direct flights to London, which are on sale from today, due to the popularity of our current services. The UK is an incredibly important market for us, and we know our customers will value the shorter flight times and increased connections that will be offered by the new service.”
Tickets for the new direct flights are now on sale, with return flights starting at £661 ($746). The airline’s timings are ideal for passengers looking to connect to Rwandair’s extensive network, which includes 28 destinations across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
The full schedule is as follows:
* KGL to LHR (Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun) – departs Kigali at 23:35, arrives in London at 06:20+1.
* LHR to KGL (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) – departs London at 20:30, arrives in Kigali at 07:00+1.
Rwandair’s Airbus A330s will continue serving London having been a mainstay on this route for the past five years. The airline has one Airbus A330-200 and one Airbus A330-300, both of which are fairly youthful at six years old. Both of Rwandair’s A330s were delivered to the airline in late 2016 and offer business and economy seating – the shorter -200 aircraft seats 244 passengers, while the longer -300 can accommodate up to 277 travelers.
These two jets are the only widebodies in the Rwandair fleet, which now consists of 12 aircraft. The airline also operates the Boeing 737, CRJ-900 and DHC-8 Dash 8 across its regional network.
Over the summer, Rwandair celebrated the milestone of five years of London service having first launched flights to the UK’s capital in 2017. The African carrier initially flew to London Gatwick Airport before switching to London Heathrow Airport in 2020, noting Heathrow’s greater connectivity for its passengers.
Rwandair recently took home a few notable accolades at the Skytrax World Airline Awards – the carrier won ‘Best Airline Staff in Africa’ for the second year running whilst also being awarded ‘Best Cabin Crew in Africa’ and ‘Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness in Africa.’
