ATL CEO Jules Ndenga spoke to the CEO of African Aerospace about the 13th Aviation Stakeholders Treaty of the African Aviation Association (AFRAA) held in Kigali from May 11-13.
ATL was established in 2015 by the Rwandan government as a holding company for the country's air transport business and includes Rwandare, Rwanda Airport Company and civil aviation operator Akagera Airlines.
The possibility of Qatar Airlines taking stock in Rwandare first appeared in February 2020, and Qatar was attracted by the opportunity to build a hub in the heart of Africa in a politically stable country with strong potential for regional growth.
However, it took several years for the transaction to reach this final stage. “The transition from Qatar Airways to Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has had some delays, mainly in the recent past,” Ndenga explained.
Initially, the Doha-based career led investments in Rwandare, but was transferred to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. This meant a review of the investment agreement developed with Qatar Airways. “The movement is complete,” Ndenga said. The final legal, government and regulatory hurdles were soon fully settled.
Qatar stocks in Rwandare are considered an important pillar of Kigali's ambition to develop an air transport ecosystem to support the country's economic and social development. The value of the investment has not been announced. QIA also acquired a 60% stake in the development of the new Kigali International Airport, which created a large regional hub that is scheduled to open in 2028.
Benefiting from the full investment agreement, the two airlines have been working commercially since 2021, when they signed a codeshare across 65 routes across Africa and around the world, in addition to Rwandare, which launches non-stop flights between Kigali and Doha.
“We are already working together, continuing to expand our codeshare partnerships in over 80 destinations and working in several other areas,” said Rwandair CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo.
As African Airlines faces a high-cost environment, it “will expand the big challenge,” she told the delegation at the AFRAA event. “The great thing about our ongoing partnership with Qatar is that we can reset and get things right.
“We are experiencing the entire transformation movement to streamline Rwandare,” she explained. “This is about looking at our business, all the departments, asking if we are the right size and if there is the right person for the right job.
Working together with more experienced airlines on this transformation is important to help Rwandare achieve its growth ambitions, she explained.
Currently, Rwandare operates a fleet of three Airbus A330 wide bodies, six Boeing 737NG, two Bombardier CRJ900s and two DeHavilland Dash 8-400s.
The fleet plan is reviewed regularly, but “from an ambition perspective, I would like to double the fleet over the next five years,” Makoro said. Our partnership with Qatar Airways is useful in this regard. “It's about using their muscles in terms of negotiating and procuring the right aircraft for us.”
The conclusion of Qatar's shares in Rwandare is Doha's second investment in an Africa-based airline. In August 2024, Qatar Airways announced that it had acquired a 25% stake in South African airline Airlink.
In the signature, Badr Mohammed Al Mia, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways Group, said:
