Rwanda affirms resumption of flights to Zimbabwe

Rwanda’s national carrier RwandAir will resume flights to Zimbabwe amid the easing of lockdown restrictions in most countries. Zimbabwe suspended flights and shut its borders on March 30 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Harare will resume international flights beginning October in an effort to boost tourism, but all travellers are required to have a polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 clearance certificate issued by a recognised facility within 48 hours from the date of departure.

The announcement has been a welcome development for many as they were failing to travel for business trips and other reasons due to the suspension of flights

It has been confirmed that Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, will resume flights to Zimbabwe on October 1 after months of suspension of air travel due to by COVID-19 pandemic. In announcing the resumption of services to Zimbabwe, RwandAir chief executive officer, Yvonne Manzi Makolo said: “Following the suspension of RwandAir services into Harare in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RwandAir would like to resume its operations into Harare effective October 1, 2020.”Rwanda opened its air space a few weeks ago after introducing a raft of COVID-19 preventative measures. COVID-19 precautionary measures have been implemented throughout the Kigali International Airport, Rwanda’s main airport, to maintain the health and safety of customers and staff, according to Rwanda Airports Company, the airports’ operator of Rwanda.

The measures include using protective plexiglass at check-in and immigration counters, thermal and temperature screening, social distancing markers and increased levels of sanitisation in compliance with international standards set out by the relevant authorities.The government guidelines for arrivals require travellers to be tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before departure and receive a second test upon entry into Rwanda. Seventeen hotels have been designated by the government of Rwanda for travellers to stay while awaiting the result of the second test.Rwandair resumed commercial flights on August 1, embarking on a gradual reopening strategy starting with flights to Dubai, Lusaka, Libreville, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Douala, Cotonou, and Libreville, and later opened Kinshasa and Kamembe destinations. It is now flying to several other African destinations.The airline has announced the resumption of its services to London with two weekly flights from Kigali to Heathrow from October 3.