RwandAir (WB, Kigali) is looking to start flights from Kigali to the United States using Accra, Ghana as a stopover.
Speaking to Travel Weekly in October, airline chief executive Yvonne Makolo said, however, that the route's launch would depend on the availability of slots. Having secured exemption authority and a foreign air carrier permit from the US Department of Transportation in May, RwandAir, and Rwanda for that matter, are still working on securing approvals from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
"Our original timeline to start the US flight was June 2019, which would require that all of the approvals be done by early January or February," she said. "I'm not sure that everything will be completed by then. We are still working around the June 2019 timeline, but it might be pushed back. It's going to be to New York, depending on which airport we get the suitable slots, but it's definitely to New York - either New York JFK or New York Newark."
Operations will be on board RwandAir's incoming fleet of A330-900s.
The use of Accra as a stopover is likely for both commercial and operational reasons. It is recalled that Kigali is located at almost 1,500 metres ASL just south of the equator.
RwandAir currently operates one A330-200 and one A330-300 to Brussels National and London Gatwick as well as on high-density intra-African routes to Abuja, Lagos, Mombasa, Lusaka, and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo.
