Air Djibouti to Launch Kigali Route Next Month

Air Djibouti and crew. The Kigali route would be its 11th destination

Within one month Air Djibouti will officially launch its operations in Rwanda starting with handling of cargo flights between Rwanda’s capital Kigali and Djibouti.

The move will make Kigali the eleventh destination of Air Djibouti, also known as Red Sea Airlines which had closed business till 2016 as a result of the airline being declared bankrupt despite state funding.

Air Djibouti was founded in 1973 just after the nation’s independence but the carrier suffered from major losses closing doors in 2016, despite being able to become independent from Air France in its operations.

Both Rwanda states have been holding bilateral meeting aimed at propelling the African Union open skylines agenda as part of implementing the 2060 continental development agenda.

“We have had several meeting over this agenda and we are going to start operations in Kigali within one month. There is a very strong political will between both presidents and there is nothing that can stop us from implementing the open airspace agreement,” said Issa Goudi Hadji, the Air Djibouti Station Manager in an exclusive interview with KT Press, Wednesday.

He said that already five new Boeing planes and cargo handling equipment have been purchased to effect this expansion which will also result to passenger flights connecting both regions.

Air Djibouti, and Djibouti tourism sector are currently exhibiting their investment opportunities at the 2018 Transform Africa Summit (TAS2018) which kicked off from May 7th to 10th 2018 in Kigali.

Both Rwanda and Djibouti enjoy cordial bilateral relations and both President Paul Kagame and his counterpart Ismaïl Omar Guelleh have met twice home and away.

Rwanda has offered Djibouti land for investment at the Kigali special economic zone (SEZ) and the same has happened with Rwanda government getting a crucial piece of land at the horn of Africa- which will connect Rwandan exporters to the Arab world.

On the other hand, bilateral talks between the two countries are underway and will benefit Rwanda to get connected to the red sea submarine sea-bone cable that will open Rwanda’s connection to the rest of Europe and Asia.

“Rwanda is a landlocked but once it’s connected to our marine cable- which is the biggest in Africa, all these barriers will be history,” said Engineer Hassan Khaireh, the Djbouti telecom.