www.rwandan-flyer.com

05/12/2012

According to a press article published on the New Times website, the arrival of Qatar Airways in Rwanda in March 2012, boosted the cargo capacity to and from Rwanda.

“Our aircrafts are big enough to carry cargo and we are hoping in the near future to make our cargo prices more competitive

Ben Mutia, Qatar Airlines Commercial Manager-Rwanda, says the airline is giving extra cargo capacity for Rwandan traders mainly from Quanzhou, China and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to help them cut costs and increase trade volumes.

“Our role in all this is to promote the Rwandan economy, we have been importing sizable cargo to Rwanda and we hope it will increase,” he told Business Times in an exclusive interview on Friday  

Rwanda is a landlocked country, traders have to go to Mombasa or Dar Es Salaam to export or to import goods. According to some statistics, transport cost for Rwanda’s exports and imports from Kigali to Mombasa destined for international market account for over 40 percent of total costs.

To reduce cost, the Governement of Rwanda has decided to develop air transport by attracting more airlines to serve Rwanda. “Air Transport is easier and quicker to import or to export goods”, according to the Governement.

Several passenger airlines (which provide a limited cargo capacity) have started operations to Rwanda in recent years, however airlines operating only cargo flights hesitate to serve Rwanda, due to the low volume and high fees.

Emirates Sky Cargo have been providing cargo flights to Rwanda for only 5 month (from Oct 2011 to March 2012).