Qatar Airways is to buy stakes in two African airlines. One is a 49% share in Rwanda’s national carrier RwandAir, a deal that has been several years in the making, and the other is an unnamed Southern African airline.
“We are at the final stage of an equity investment in an airline in the southern part of Africa,” said Qatar Airways CEO, Badr Mohammed Al Meer, speaking at a Connecting the Middle East & Africa panel discussion at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha this week.
In December 2019, Qatar Airways committed US$1.3 billion into the construction of the Bugesera International Airport, 40km south of the Rwandan capital of Kigali.
On track to be completed by 2026, the airport is expected to accommodate over 14 million passengers by 2032.
Qatar Airways is 100% owned by the Qatari government. The airline has demonstrated a clear appetite for establishing its network in Africa and currently flies to 31 destinations across the continent.
The pending 49% acquisition of RwandAir was lauded by the RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo as a major catalyst for achieving the airline’s ambitions of growing into a regional powerhouse competing with the likes of Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways.
“This joint venture will allow RwandAir to grow into a more robust airline and further improve connectivity within the continent. We are positioning as a significant regional hub in the heart of Africa,” said Makolo.
