RwandAir plans four more A330s as Europe, Far East expansion looms

RwandAir expects to take delivery of four more Airbus A330-200s in the current financial year, in addition to the widebody delivered in August 2026, as it prepares to announce new destinations in Europe and the Far East.

In an interview with AeroTime at the Aviation Africa Summit in Nairobi, Chief Commercial Officer Reuben Mbonye set out the airline’s growth plan in three parts: fleet, network and people.

“We are looking at expanding our fleet, but at the same time also growing our network,” Mbonye told AeroTime at the Aviation Africa Summit in Nairobi, held on September 9 and 10, 2026. “We have a target to look at more destinations within Europe and the Far East.”

Four more A330-200s planned this financial year

RwandAir took delivery of an A330-200 on August 24, 2026, which the airline described at the time as the first of five planned.

The carrier took its third A330 in March 2023, and in an April 2024 interview with AeroTime, CEO Yvonne Makolo said the airline intended to double its fleet within five years while reducing the number of aircraft types it operates from five to three.

The third element of the expansion plan is staff. Mbonye said RwandAir is investing in RISE, a graduate development program that brings high-potential Rwandan graduates into the airline and rotates them across key departments, part of a deliberate effort to build the leadership pipeline needed to match the airline’s growth.

Partnerships extend RwandAir beyond Kigali

Mbonye put the case for partnerships plainly.

“No man is an island,” he said. “We don’t fly everywhere, but through partnerships, we’re able to give services to our passengers beyond where RwandAir operates to.”

He highlighted two agreements. RwandAir signed a codeshare and interline agreement with EgyptAir on June 10, 2026, covering Cairo, Rome and Amman through Kigali, including markets the Rwandan carrier does not serve itself. A deepened arrangement with Qatar Airways was announced during the summit.

The Qatar Airways relationship dates back to a codeshare agreement signed in October 2021. It has since widened in an unusual direction: Qatar Airways has retired its A330 passenger fleet and is offering those pilots short-term assignments at RwandAir, with one of the aircraft also transferring to Kigali.

Cargo emerges as a post-pandemic growth pillar

Mbonye traced RwandAir’s focus on cargo back to the pandemic.

“You do recall during the COVID times when no passenger aircraft was taking off,” he said. “The only thing that sustained aviation was cargo. So we’ve learned that throughout this there is a huge opportunity, especially in Africa where it’s untapped.”

West Africa best illustrates that strategy: in June 2026, RwandAir and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment expanded an air cargo corridor, opening export routes from Nigeria to Kigali, Lusaka and Harare.

“An airline is just not a standalone, it’s an ecosystem,” Mbonye said. “We are there to facilitate, there to make sure that businesses continue.”

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Middle East conflict reinforces diversification push

Fuel costs were the first effect of the Middle East conflict to hit RwandAir’s balance sheet.

“It just shot up, it skyrocketed,” Mbonye said. “So we had to adapt, of course. We had to review fares such that we are able at least to sustain our operations.”

RwandAir initially suspended its Doha and Dubai services temporarily, but have since fully resumed them. Mbonye said the nonstop flights are now back, but that the disruption carried a lesson beyond pricing.

“What that has taught us is that we need to diversify,” he said. “So we are looking at operating other destinations that can allow us to retain the level of flexibility and operations that we intend to have.”

‘We need to stop treating aviation like a luxury’

Asked what African aviation needs to change commercially, Mbonye went directly to cost, with taxes loaded onto tickets accounting for much of the problem.

He pointed to the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), the African Union framework intended to liberalize air travel between member states, and to the gap between what governments have signed and what they have implemented.

“There’s slow adoption,” he said, calling for governments to support the framework so that the tax component of fares can be reduced.

“We need to stop treating aviation like a luxury,” Mbonye said. “It’s a necessity at this point in time. So we need to see everyone flying.”The post RwandAir plans four more A330s as Europe, Far East expansion looms appeared first on AeroTime.

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