Chinedu Eze
East African carrier, Rwand Air has offered a new incentive to Nigerian passengers with generous bag allowance as it plans to connect flight services between Lagos and its hub in Kigali into Far Eastern routes including Mumbai in India and Guangzhou in China.
This was disclosed by the airline’s Country Manager, Ms. Ibiyemi Odusi at the weekend.
Odusi said part of the reasons why the airline decided to operate into these routes was to bridge the services of other airlines operating on the routes because Nigerian travellers need more airlines on those routes, adding that the airline would deploy a bigger aircraft on the routes to give passengers value for their money.
“We are planning to launch two new routes for the Nigerian market, they are Mumbai and Guangzhou in China .We did our marketing research and discovered that Nigeria has a need for more carriers into the Far Eastern routes, and as a strong player on our current routes, we thought there is a great need to satisfy our passengers.
“By September, Rwand Air is taking delivery of an Airbus A330, with a flat bed in business class, fee onboard WIFI, mobile network, world-class inflight entertainment, which will serve these new routes. By December we take delivery of another Airbus to further service the routes to complement our Nigerian routes. As an airline, we feel the need to empathise with our customers by giving them quality aircraft as travel time increases on routes. We are also improving safety with the training of our personnel,” she said.
The Country Manager said the airline has pursued an ambitious fleet growth programme with eight aircraft in service in the four years of its existence, disclosing that before the end of the year, the number of aircraft on the fleet of Rwand Air would have increased to 10 brand new equipment.
Odusi promised that the airline would offer Nigerian passengers, generous baggage allowance on the new routes, it has introduced with a bigger aircraft that would give them enough space for their baggage in addition to offering competitive fares to attract passengers interested in medical tourism in India.
“There is a huge gap in flight services for Nigerians interested in flying into Mumbai and Guangzhou. The number of airlines flying into these routes is not enough. That is why Rwand Air is tapping into this opportunity to further add value for our passengers.
“We are driven by the core values of safety, on time departure and excellent customer services,” she said.
Odusi also spoke of plans by the airline to expend flights into more African destinations, including Khartoum in Sudan, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire and Cotonou Benin Republic and other African cities, adding that the implementation of single skies for Africa would deepen the air transport market in the continent.
