Air traffic for Kigali to grow by 50 percent in 2012

(eTN) – The Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority has projected a growth in flight movements in and out of Kigali’s Kanombe International Airport by 50 percent in 2012, suggesting that the present level of around 200 flights per week might rise to 300 flights per week.

The positive announcement is based on the number of new airlines who will be flying scheduled services to Kigali, like Qatar Airways, South African Airways, and Turkish Airlines, while carriers already coming to Rwanda are expected to add more frequencies during the cause of the year.

National airline, RwandAir, is also set on an expansion path and expects to take delivery of more state-of-the-art jets by mid-2012, allowing the airline to further roll out new destinations and add frequencies in the region and across the continent.
Frequent travelers through Kigali have, however, been cautious over the projections, saying that during peak hours, the terminal is now getting very crowded, like when for instance Brussels Airlines and KLM arrive almost at the same time and queues to enter the terminal and get through entry security control at times extends queues to the parking area, not a pleasant experience in particular when it rains.

A new airport at Bugesera is now in the tendering stage, but unlikely to be ready before 2016, making more investments in the existing airport terminal building an absolute necessity, unless congestion will become the order of the day.