Brussels Airlines adds long-haul daily flights to Kigali

Brussels Airlines has announced a plan to operate daily flights to Kigali after adding a tenth aircraft to its long-haul fleet and committed to growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, its most important market.

The acquisition will allow the airline to restart its flights to the Kenyan capital Nairobi and increase the frequency of flights to the Rwandan capital Kigali. In total, Brussels Airlines now has 18 destinations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Brussels Airlines continues to invest in its intercontinental network and fleet, as a tenth Airbus A330 will become operational in the Summer of 2024.

Travelers will thus have even more options to fly between Europe and Africa, and benefit from a direct connection between Brussels Airport and the Kenyan capital.

Nairobi is not unknown territory to the airline as it already served this destination between 2002 and 2015.

According to a statement announcing the development, extra destination and increased flights to East and West Africa.

​Brussels Airlines will not only add a new destination, the new long haul plane also allows the airline to increase the flight frequency to Kigali (Rwanda) to a daily connection.

To crew this A330 about 60 pilots and cabin crew members will be hired. Also on the ground extra colleagues will be recruited.

Tickets for flights between Brussels and Nairobi are on sale as of tomorrow, the first flight is planned in June 2024. It will operate six days a week during the summer schedule. In the winter schedule, the route will be flown four times weekly. During the winter, an extra direct flight to Dakar and an extra rotation to Banjul / Conakry and Monrovia / Freetown will be added to the planning.

Commenting on the development, ​Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO, Brussels Airlines said : “With the addition of Nairobi to our network, daily frequencies to Kigali and extra flights to West Africa, we offer more choice to our passengers travelling to and from Africa than ever. The tenth intercontinental aircraft is a clear sign of Lufthansa Group’s trust in Brussels Airlines and strengthens our role as the hub to Africa for the Group.”

​Kevin Markette, General Manager East Africa, Lufthansa Group said that Rwanda and East Africa as a whole continue to be strong growth markets for the Lufthansa Group and expressed delight for continued growth of their presence in Rwanda through Brussels Airlines’ expansion to daily flights.

“Not only does this offer more choice to our customers, it also underlines Lufthansa Group’s commitment to Rwanda and the entire region. With the addition of the six weekly Brussels Airlines’ flights to Nairobi from summer 2024, Brussels Airlines will offer daily flights to Entebbe and now also to Kigali, plus 6 weekly flights to Nairobi and 2 weekly flights to Bujumbura” he noted.

Brussels Airlines has been conducting five weekly flights to Kigali.

PM