Following the demise of Air Uganda, the airline has been given the go ahead to step into the void. It will launch the route with two daily rotations, using its Bombardier CRJ900NextGen aircraft, offering both economy and business class for the Nairobi route, which will turn Entebbe into the airline’s second hub after Kigali.
Although initially planned to launch on January 10, 2015, it has now been confirmed that the new service will now commence from February 1, 2015, subject to final approval of slots. RwandAir plans to offer ten weekly frequencies between Entebbe and Nairobi in conjunction with flights from its Kigali hub.
Here is the tentative schedule:
WB450 KGL0600 – 0750EBB0830 – 0940NBO1030 – 1055KGL CRJ x1
WB460 KGL1320 – 1510EBB1600 – 1710NBO1750 – 1810KGL CRJ x357
The airline first launched flights from Entebbe, in Central Uganda, to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, but the Kenyan CAA initially denied the request from RwandAir to fly into Nairobi. The Kenyan CAA took a directive from the Heads of State of the Northern Corridor Cooperation, when the airline officials met for their last summit in December 2014.
Ignie Igunduura, public affairs manager for UCAA, said the arrival of new players on the 45-minute route is partly a result of the recent signing of a pact among Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan on the management of the Northern Corridor Air Space bloc.
“It is a joint effort aimed at bringing down the fares in the regional airspace. The competition on the route will also lead to better services and more options to travellers,” he said.
The airline has already won over the Ugandan market with affordable fares, punctuality, good inflight services, and the option to join the RwandAir frequent flyer program ‘Dream Miles’, which offers members a range of added services.
Kenya's FlySax has confirmed that they will launch double daily flights between Nairobi and Entebbe from January 9, 2015.
No word has been received as yet on the fate of Fastjet which has equally been granted fifth freedom rights to operate between Entebbe and Nairobi by the Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) but has run into a series of bureaucratic obstacles with the Kenyan regulators.
Now serving 16 destinations out of Kigali with a fleet of seven aircraft, RwandAir has progressively filled the void left behind in Uganda by the closure of Air Uganda, with a positive response from the market who now have another option to fly from Entebbe into the wider region.
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