RWANDA: RwandAir Choses Names For New Airbus A330 Aircraft

The #YiteNawe competition, launched by RwandAir some weeks ago to received broadbased proposals for the names of the airline’s first ever wide body aircraft due for delivery next year, has drawn to a close.

Yesterday did RwandAir publicly announce the winning nominations, being ‘Murage’ by Thierry Hakizimfura and ‘Ubumwe ‘ by Therese Ayinkamiye. Broadly translated will the first name signify ‘Inheritance’ while the second name chosen stands for ‘Unity’ – two key words with a huge significance to the new Rwanda which has emerged in recent years. The two brand new aircraft will join the RwandAir fleet in September and December 2016 respectively and then permit the airline to launch long haul flights from Kigali to China, India and Europe.

With two more new Boeing B737-800NG SkyInterior also joining Africa’s fastest growing airline with the youngest fleet on the continent, is speculation rife that aircraft already on the registry and the additional Boeings may also eventually be named and drawing names relevant to the country’s number one economic sector, tourism, would be the most likely source. Rwanda’s national parks, Akagera, Gishwati-Mukura, Nyungwe and Volcanoes would make splendid advertising for the attractions the Land of a Thousand Hills holds while others could be drawn from the country’s scenic attractions, like Lake Kivu or the names of the five volcanoes which make up the national park itself.