RwandAir is here to stay because Nigeria’s economy will re-bound-Odusi

Regarded as the fastest growing airline in Africa, RwandAir’s success story can be attributed to a lesson in perseverance and the collective will of the people to make it one of Africa’s preferred airlines. The carrier which was established in 2003 has continued to expand operations and opening more routes in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Country Commercial Manager for the carrier, Ibiyemi Odusi in an interview with Woleshadare.net speaks of the carrier’s commitment to the Nigerian market, its expansion programme, deployment of state-of-the-art airplanes and its faith with the burgeoning Nigerian aviation market. Excerpts.

There were insinuations that RwandAir was planning to leave Nigeria, how true is this?

We don’t have any plans to withdraw from the Nigerian market as against a recent publication. We are committed to serving this market. We are weathering the storm and we believe in the economy of Nigeria and we know that it will rebound.

Could you just throw more light on your operations in Nigeria vis a vis the aircraft and how you hope to consolidate your stay in the country and how the Nigerian market is key to you?

We presently use the A330 and our B737-700 on the Nigerian route and like I mentioned earlier, we took delivery of our A330-300 in September and most of our media partners were there when we had a get together at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. The second one we took delivery of last week, we did create a blitz that went viral online but these two aircraft still serve Nigerian market. The reason is that the Nigerian market is very important to RwandAir. It is our cash cow if I can put it in that way. We are committed to putting the best of equipment on a route such as Nigeria. We have no plan to withdraw from the route like I have said; we are growing by the day that made us to come up with new technology, new ways of further consolidating on what we are presently doing in the market which is the aftermath of the latest equipment we decided to deploy on the route. About our partners, we have some airline partners that we work with in terms of maintenance and we are looking at alliances in future with other international airlines and some local ones for us to be able to feed domestically into our RwandAir network.

Before now, you were using B737-700 aircraft. If I may ask, the airline has graduated to using A330 which is bigger airplane, more technologically advanced and looking at capacity, does it signify that your airline has grown within five years exponentially or marginally, what is the load from Lagos and at what percentage has it gone up in the last five years?

We use the A330 on the Lagos route but that is not the only aircraft we use on the route. We did not withdraw the B737. We tailor the schedule in such a way that it fits the present realities in the country. We utilise both aircraft. It is not like we took one aircraft out and brought another. We use them interchangeably. We have had increase in revenue and load factor significantly. We did that to better position RwandAir brand globally. As part of our commitment to this market, as I speak now, we now have daily flight out of Lagos.

I remember like two months ago, you said you have increased the airline’s revenue this year like no other year. This is no doubt a difficult year where some airlines have actually left the country. What is the attraction for Nigerians?

I think the attraction is Dubai for most Nigerian passengers. Dubai is one major route that Nigerians like to travel to. Others are Nairobi, Entebbe, Johannesburg, but the majority of the traffic is to Dubai.

Is it that the fare you offer is better than that of your competitors that has made your your airline the preferred carrier by Nigerians to Dubai and to some Eat African countries?

I think we are preferred because we have a very competitive fare structure when you compare with our competitors. Aside the competitive fare system, winning Miles is something that endears people and patronage to the airline. Our Mile programme is called Dream Miles where the more you fly the more you earn. You can use your miles to redeem free tickets, baggage allowance, hotels. There are partnerships that we are still working on. The comfort we give to our passengers and customer service is key for us. If we say the flight is at noon, we make sure it is not except where safety is concerned. For us, safety is paramount.

What are some of the routes you operate?

We operate to Dubai, Johannesburg, Entebbe, Dar E Salam, Lusaka, Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire, Accra, Libreville, Brazzaville, Mombasa. Kigali is our hub. I have mentioned the key ones Nigerians majorly fly to. We operate to 20 countries.

Any plan for more routes next year?

We plan to open seven more routes in 2017.

Plans to fly to any other cities in Nigeria?

There are plans to fly to Abuja after talks with Nigerian government is concluded. We will brief the media when that happens. We have a lot plans to expand. We presently added Cotonou and Abidjan to our flights on our route network this year. Come first quarter 2017, we will be adding other routes like New York, London Gatwick, Lilongwe, Conakry, Mumbai, and Bamako and so on.

This is a festive season, what are the incentives you want to give to Nigerian passengers for the Yuletide?

As part of the Yuletide, we are actually offering 30 per cent discount on all our routes at the moment.

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Wole Shadare

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