Turkish Air: Promoting Business Ties between Rwanda and Turkey

Since the visit President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to Turkey, early 2012, to strengthen the existing ties between the two countries, there has been an increased interest of Turkish investment groups into opening businesses in Rwanda.

One of the biggest businesses has been the opening of a Turkish Airline services in Kigali. After speaking to President Kagame, the Chief Executive of Turkish Airlines, Temel Kotil, said that Turkish Airlines will launch its services before the end of this year, beginning with a partnership with RwandAir and later in April 2012, launch the Istanbul-Kigali route.

The maiden flight from the new Turkish Airlines service landed at Kigali International airport in Rwanda, May 15, 2012. This marked Turkish Airlines addition of Rwanda to their growing list of destinations, offering a service that will fly 3-4 times a week between Istanbul and Kigali during the initial launch period.

The launch event was attended by Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation, Louise Mushyikiwabo, the Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva, and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba among other guests from both the government and Turkish delegation-composed of the Istanbul Governor, Prosecutor General and the Turkish Airlines CEO among others.

In his address, Kotil, the CEO of the Turkish Airlines commended Rwanda for the excellent investment climate and security. We are valuing Rwanda as a key point to expand our connection to the entire Africa. Kotil said that the choice of Kigali was deliberate. “As Turkish Airlines we are growing very fast and we know that Rwanda is a very important place. Turkey is central to Europe and Asia but Rwanda is in the heart of Africa and we see this place as a hub to the continent.”

This new route will not only connect Kigali to Istanbul but also to 80 cities in Europe, 22 in the Middle East, 2 cities in Central Asia and many other destinations in the rest of the world. Turkish Airlines currently covers more than 200destinations worldwide, 20 destinations in Africa and they are planning to cover over 30 in the next one year.

Travel agencies in Rwanda, say that the new carrier will help in addressing the problem and the challenges involved in connecting Rwanda to West Africa and the biggest clients compared to the available flights. To ease the flow of goods they will also have a cargo carrier that will make it easy for Rwandan business community to transport their heavy cargoes.

According to Kotil, the airline targets a daily flight operation to Kigali and twice in a day flights in the near future. He also confirmed plans for the airline putting in place  cargo service with the passenger capacity standing at 70 tones, – which more to offer in comparison to other airlines operating in Kigali; and offering more friendly prices both for cargo and passenger.

During the 32nd Air Transport Facilitation meeting held in Kigali, in May 2012, aviation experts called on Rwanda to fast track efforts of expanding their facility to meet their growing demand, since the airport facility at the Kigali International Airport, located in Kanombe, is tiny and can only accommodate parking for just eight aircraft and administration has to run a strict scheduling to avoid over use.

The country in investing in a new airport worth US$700 million dollars expected to be complete by 2017.

Rwanda’s annual travelers through the airport have also drastically increased since the country emerged out of the 1994 genocide era and due to the increased interest of investors and tourists from all over Asia, Europe and Africa, and increased demand for Rwandans to travel abroad for either business or pleasure.
Since the launch of Turkish airlines in Rwanda, the liner has set up Cargo Services for Rwandan exporters who continue to enjoy easy and reliable air cargo services from Kigali to Istanbul, courtesy of Turkish Airlines.

Rwanda and Turkey have continued to develop a business relationship since President Paul Kagame’s visit to Turkey that sparked-off profound business collaboration between the two countries- which also share some common aspects in culture.

Turkish Airlines service started operation in Kigali, Rwanda last year adding Rwanda to their growing list of destinations, offering a service that will fly 3-4 times a week between Istanbul and Kigali during the initial launch period.

According to Burchin Isler, the Turkish airlines Country Director in Rwanda, the cargo service will enable Rwandan exporters to easily manage to access and expand their trade activities into the Europe and across Asia.

“Our job will be to facilitate business men and women to access the world markets. Our cargo plane is brand new from Airbus, with capacity of 64tons and its first air route from the manufacturer will be straight to Rwanda” he said.

Burchin noted that this program was supposed to be launched in May but due to some delays the new plane will be delivered and the services launched on June 3, 2013.

RwandAir passes IATA audit as global Aviation remains profitable

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has given RwandAir, a positive nod to fly the global skies with ease after passing the IATA operational safety Audit-IOSA.

The Audit which is done every after two years is aninternational yardstick to evaluate and assess operational management and control systems of an airline mainly on the safety of the Airline which is crucial in the Air transport business.

With the Audit it means that the National carrier can fly everywhere in the globe and also code and carry out business with the five star Airlines, something that increases its presence.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the global trade association for the airline industry.

“Passing the audit is vital for the sustainability of the airline as it is a mandatory requirement to obtain IATA registration, alliance memberships and code share agreements,” said John Mirenge, the carrier’s CEO

Mirenge in a statement noted that the audit pass contributes to the carrier’s efforts to expand both in its fleet and the destinations as it brings with it the confidence and trust by passengers.

RwandAir flies to all capitals in East Africa as well as Juba, Doulla in Cameroon, Johannesburg, Dubai, Lagos, Libreville and Brazzaville.

Although the Airline dragged feet to reveal its financial results for the first half of the year, there is optimism that the carrier would register positive performance at theendof the year when comparedtothe international performance.

Accordingto IATA, the international passenger demand rose by 5.3% by the end of September this year compared to the same period under review in 2013.

“This was exceeded by a capacity expansion of 5.7% which resulted in a softening of the load factor to 80.5%, down 0.2 percentage points from the year-ago period,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

Statistics also indicate that the September capacity rose 5.1% and load factor rose 0.2 percentage points to 80.3% despite the fact that the month’s performance was slightly below the August year over year increase of 6.3 percent.

“Overall, demand for passenger travel is growing in line with expectations. We saw, however, some shifting of the sources of that growth in September, largely driven by economic factors,” Tyler noted in a statement.

Tyler added, “This year we expect airlines to achieve a collective global net profit of $18 billion.”

According to the international Airline body, the average return on invested capital for the industry by end of September stood at 5.4% up from 1.4% in 2008 while the industry’s annual contribution to the global GDP is 3.4% with economic impact estimated at $2.4 trillion.

Rwanda : Traffic Police Introduces Oral Tests for the Illiterate

As a way of overcoming the reading and writing barrier for driving permit seekers, traffic police has introduced oral provisional tests for the illiterate people.

The first ever special motor cycle driving test was conducted in the Eastern districts of Gatsibo and Nyagatare where a total of 1, 856 illiterate citizens participated.

According to the Traffic Police Commander, Chief Superintendent (CSP) Celestin Twahirwa, the test was organized to facilitate people in Eastern province who initially operate motor cycles in their daily activities but, do not have driving licenses

He said that the main reason for not having them is because they cannot read and write in order to undergo the normal driving exam.

He explained that the new system of conducting driving tests was part of Traffic Police efforts to ensure road safety is maintained in all parts of the country.

“The new system started with the Eastern province but plans are under way to extend it to other provinces of the country,” said Twahirwa.

Twahirwa also observed that acquiring the driving licenses by the illiterate will help them get registered by life insurance companies.

He encouraged driving license seekers to undertake literacy programs so as to access more opportunities.

Before the test, candidates had been training in traffic rules for two consecutive weeks.

Celebration of World Migratory Bird Day (May 9th – 10th, 2009) in Rwanda

Rwanda on Saturday May 9 joined the rest of the world to mark World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), with a big turn up of bird watchers. The celebration was organized by the Association for the Conservation of Nature in Rwanda, (ACNR), the BirdLife Partner in Rwanda, in collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). The highlight of the celebration marked under the theme, “Barriers to Migration” was bird watching excursion at a man-made Lake in Nyarutarama, on the outskirts of Kigali City.

Similar, on May 10th, 2009, bird watching excursion was carried out at Lake Rumira in Bugesera District in eastern Rwanda. This area is probably expected to be a habitat for migratory waterbirds in Rwanda.

Over 100 people attended the event including pupils and teachers from school Wildlife Club called “Coeur Joyeux” drawn from Anglican Church located near Kigali City Park, the representatives from some nature clubs affiliated to ACNR such as “Rwanda University Club for Conservation of Biodiversity (RUCCB)”, “Amis Muyaga” from ASPESKA College, journalists from print and broadcast, etc

During this celebration the “Coeur Joyeux” Wildlife Clubs played a sketch demonstrating local barriers to migratory birds in Rwanda including intensify agriculture activities, wetlands drainage and other activities related to ecosystems disturbance, etc.

This awareness campaign was to protect migratory birds and their habitats. Annually, on the second weekend of May, people around the world organise public events such as bird festivals, education programmes and birdwatching excursions as part of activities to mark the World Migratory Bird Day. “This campaign had a major impact on how Rwandans perceive migratory birds and it has the potential to unite many different communities to rise against buriers met by migratory birds and humanitarian perils facing them today,” he added. Meanwhile, Birdlife International has launched a new programme called “Born to Travel Campaign” aimed at protecting migratory birds along the African-Eurasian flyway.

Also, this event has attracted more teams and spectators than ever before, including both government institutions, local NGO’s working in wildlife conservation and private sector. There has been a considerable effort to get more teams, including females and males, to participate, in the events. As this event has started to produce a significant contest of skills, awareness and friendship, we hope that the campaign will involve more people for the protection of birds and biodiversity in general in Rwanda. Actually, this year saw the arrival of several new teams of Kigali birdlovers.