KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will operate its first flight to Kigali in Rwanda
Amstelveen – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will operate its first flight to Kigali in Rwanda today. Five flights a week will be offered to Kigali with an intermediate stopover in Entebbe. The new service will be operated using Airbus A330-200 equipment, offering seats for 243 passengers: 30 in World Business Class and 213 in Economy Class.
In cooperation with Air France, KLM will offer new destinations and more frequencies in Africa with effect from commencement of its new winter schedule today. Cooperation with partner Kenya Airways will also be expanded. KLM and Air France’s capacity has been raised by more than 4% this winter in comparison with last year. This winter, the AIR FRANCE KLM Group will be serving 43 African destinations at a frequency of more than 200 flights a week. As such, KLM will be strengthening its position in Africa.
Four new destinations
In addition to KLM initiating scheduled service to Kigali, Air France will also offer twice-weekly service to Bata in Equatorial Guinea with effect from the same date.
In addition to KLM’s existing services, flights to Tripoli (Libya) will also be operated five times a week by Air France from the start of the summer schedule on 27 March 2011. Additionally, passengers will be able to fly via Paris with Air France to and from Freetown in Sierra Leone (twice weekly) and to and from Monrovia in Liberia (thrice weekly).
More frequencies
Throughout the winter period, KLM will offer daily flights to and from Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
In summer 2011, the frequency of KLM’s scheduled services to Tripoli will be raised from six to seven flights a week. Additionally, KLM will increase its weekly flights to Abuja/Kano from three to four and to Entebbe/Kigali from five to six.
Pointe Noire (Congo) and Libreville (Gabon) will be served five instead of four times a week by Air France effective 13 December 2010. However, the flights to Libreville are subject to obtaining landing rights from the authorities in Gabon.
With effect from September 2010, Air France will also operate daily service to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.
Partnership with Kenya Airways
Cooperation with Kenya Airways will also make it possible for KLM to offer a more extensive network with even more destinations and higher frequencies in East Africa. Operating from the its Nairobi hub, Kenya Airways offers flights to destinations including Ndola, Harare, Mombassa, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Bujumbura and Zanzibar. In cooperation with Kenya Airways, Air France also offers flights to destinations including Dzaoudzi and Moroni via Nairobi.
Modern fleet
On its routes to Africa, KLM largely operates flights with modern Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-200 aircraft, aged 4.7 years on average. All of the aircraft offer passengers the latest personal inflight entertainment systems. KLM has also introduced an Economy Comfort zone for greater comfort during the flight.
KLM Club Africa
To make doing business in Africa easier, KLM also offers Club Africa. The useful contacts provided through this online platform facilitate successful, targeted business operations in Africa. Members of Air France and KLM’s frequent flyer loyalty programme have access to this service.
Picture: Lolo Stürmchen
