RwandAir has a small fleet of 12 aircraft, including one A330-200 and one A330-300. RwandAir launched the Kigali – Mumbai route in 2017. They have been operating the route 4 times a week, with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. In 2018, RwandAir planned to extend the route to Guangzhou from Mumbai. Now, they are putting that plan in action.
RwandAir will upgauge the Kigali – Mumbai route to an A330-200 from a 737-800 from June 18, 2019.
Kigali-Mumbai on RwandAir
RwandAir’s A330-200 has 20 Business class, 21 Premium Economy class and 203 Economy class seats. RwandAir’s 737-800, on the other hand, has 16 Business Class seats and 138 Economy Class seats. Business Class Passengers will now get a more comfortable lie-flat seat in comparison to the recliner seat on the 737-800. Also, there is an addition of a Premium Economy cabin.
RwandAir Business Class A330-200 Source: RwandAir
Not only that but RwandAir will also extend the flight to Guangzhou from Mumbai. The 4x weekly flight from Kigali to Mumbai will be extended to Guangzhou on an A330-200 from June 18, 2019.
RwandAir A330-200 Source: RwandAir
Earlier the schedule for the flight was,
WB500 KGL0050 – 1130BOM 738 x247
WB501 BOM0145 – 0515KGL 738 x246
You may have noticed a RwandAir 737-800 parked at Mumbai airport on operational days, as the aircraft stayed on the ground from 11:30 am to 01:45 am. The schedule for the new flight is,
WB500 KGL0050–1130BOM 332 x357
WB500 BOM1230–2140CAN 332 x357
WB501 CAN2330–0320BOM (+1 day) 332 x357
WB501 BOM0420(+1 day)–0740KGL(+1 day) 332 x357
Kigali-Mumbai-Guangzhou
RwandAir has secured fifth freedom rights between Mumbai and Guangzhou also. So passengers can only book Mumbai – Guangzhou sector if they want. This is good news as there isn’t a non-stop flight on Mumbai-Guangzhou sector currently. Reservations for flights to Guangzhou hasn’t started yet.
Have you travelled on RwandAir before? Will you be booking the nonstop to Guangzhou?
I doubt that IndiGo was considering BOM-CAN to begin with, simply because it would be pushing the range limits of A321neo.
In contrast the A321neoLR would not have a problem with BOM-CAN.
DEL or possibly CCU were likely the top choices if indeed they launch CAN. (They are also considering Chengdu and Kunming.) IIRC Spicejet is planning DEL-CAN 3x weekly as well.
It would be *great* if they consider SZX. A significant % of India-HKG pax are actually going to Shenzhen.
There goes 6E’s plan to connect Guangzhou, at least from Mumbai. They may try CCU or DEL base.
Thai Air was a good option for people connecting to Guangzhou. I met many Indians who transited through BKK to Guangzhou.