Park Inn by Radisson opening in Kigali

Carlson Rezidor has announced that it will be opening the Park Inn by Radisson Kigali in Rwanda.

The property will feature 161 rooms in the group’s second hotel project in Kigali - the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Centre Kigali is already underway and is scheduled to open mid-2014. The plan is for the Park Inn by Radisson to open its doors a few months later.

The site of the Park Inn by Radisson Kigali is centrally located in the up-market Nyarugenge district of the city centre – less than 12 kilometres west of the international airport, Rwanda’s primary point of entry. Besides the guest rooms, the hotel will offer a 225m² all-day dining restaurant, a 80m² lobby bar, a club lounge, an outdoor swimming pool with a 110m² pool bar and terrace, 500m² meeting and conference facilities, as well as gym, spa, hair salon and nightclub.

Kigali is Rwanda’s most populated city with more than one million inhabitants, and is also the country’s most important business and convention destination. Tourism, minerals, coffee and tea are Rwanda's main sources of foreign exchange. Since joining the East African Economic Community, Rwanda is aligning its budget, trade, and immigration policies with its regional partners.

New Destinations for RwandAir

 According to eturbonews.com, RwandAir has announced the launch of direct flights from Kigali to Douala (Cameroon) and Juba (South Sudan). This follows the announcement that the airline will soon be flying to Accra (Ghana) five times a week.
Douala will be served four times a week and both flights will leave Kigali in the afternoon, whereas the return flight for Kigali leaves the following morning. Boeing 737-700NG or B737-800NG aircraft will be used on the route, offering both Business and Economy Class. The Accra and Douala services will launch on 1 June. The two cities will join Brazzaville, Libreville and Lagos as RwandAir’s West African destinations.
 The Juba service will launch on 1 July and will initially be served three times a week, with the recently-acquired brand new CRJ900NextGen regional jets. Departure from Kigali will be at 09h45 and the return flight from Juba to Kigali will take off at 13h00, South Sudan time. This will take the number of RwandAir destinations to 16.

KQ and RwandAir Seek Partnership

 Kenya Airways and RwandAir have announced their intention to form a strategic partnership and stronger relations between the two airlines. Kenya Airways currently offers four flights a day between Kigali and Nairobi, with a wide network available to the rest of the world. RwandAir currently flies to Nairobi three times a day, and also serves Mombasa from its base in Kigali. The combined flights will offer more choice to passengers and better connectivity at the Nairobi hub. The collaboration promises to also strengthen the areas of cargo, maintenance and flight training. Already, RwandAir is using KQ’s new flight simulators to train its pilots. Benefits for the consumer will initially be felt through improved synergies, in the form of scheduling and passenger handling. However, additional value will become apparent as the relationship evolves with further refinement of reservation systems, as well as a frequent flyer partnership between the two companies. The finer details of this agreement will be mapped out in various agreements, which the airlines are currently reviewing for finalisation.