RwandAir to focus on African routes in new recovery strategy
RwandAir plans to focus on regional routes in order to optimize its operational cost and boost its financial performance. This was disclosed by Yvonne Manzi Makolo, the airline’s Chief Executive, during an interview with The New Times on Monday. Makolo was speaking at the margins of the ongoing Union of Central and West African Airport Managers (UGAACO) executive workshop, taking place in Kigali.
Available statistics indicate that RwandAir’s financial performance was promising prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the global airline industry.
Makolo said that the airline is yet to record at least 50 percent of its pre-Covid total revenues, which informed the decision to refocus its routing.
“It is critical that we now focus on our short (regional) hauls, as we remain mindful of the cost of operation,” she said.
In addition, “We have also resumed some of our long haul flights like Dubai, a charter flight in China, etc, but to be able to minimize the airline’s operational cost, we are focusing on the routes in Africa.”
Most of Rwandair's destinations are to African cities.
“Just recently, we resumed our flights to Johannesburg, South Africa, Harare in Zimbabwe, and to Lusaka…” she added, “This is part of our recovery strategy.”
Meanwhile, Makolo pointed out that as they recover, they will continue to reintegrate their employees who were furloughed due to the effects of the pandemic.
“It is true that some of our staff were temporarily laid off, but they are a priority as full operation of the airline resumes,” she said.
The government continues to inject relief funds to sustain the airline and avoid massive job losses. Reliable sources told The New Times that the government supported RwandAir operations with a subsidy of Rwf81.3 billion.
Prior to Covid disruptions, RwandAir serviced 25 destinations across 21 countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The long-haul destinations include Guangzhou in China, London in the UK, Brussels in Belgium, New Delhi in India and Tel Aviv in Israel.
Rwanda officially joins UGAACO
Meanwhile, during the meeting, the Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete revealed that UGAACO has officially admitted the Rwanda Airports Company into the forum. The Union, established more than a decade ago brings together 17 airports from sixteen countries from central and western Africa.
Member states include Ivory Coast, Mali, Centre Africa, Guinea, Benin, Senegal, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Senegal, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Togo and Guinea Bissau. Rwanda becomes the latest country to join the union.
“Thanks to the tremendous achievements that UGAACO has accomplished, promotion of the development of airport activity for the benefit of all its members, making all airport managers aware of the deficiencies in airport ICAO compliance and jointly work together to address them,”
Gatete added, “The pandemic has reminded us that there is always going to be a need for working together in order to get the best of everything working together.” During the five-day meeting, officials will hold discussions with an aim to improve skills to efficiently manage airports ensuring an appropriate degree of global standards through experience exchange.
