The route resumption comes as the reigning World’s Best Airline celebrates multiple milestones across Africa, enhancing passenger choice and experience
DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways is increasing the number of destinations it serves in Africa to 30, with the resumption of flights between Doha and the Rwandan capital, Kigali, from Wednesday, 25 June 2025.
The resumption marks the continued expansion of the airline’s African operations and its commitment to operating across the continent, providing increased connectivity and choice of destinations via its award-winning Doha hub, Hamad International Airport. The move is also expected to help boost socio-economic development in the region.
Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Thierry Antinori, said: “Africa is a vast, growing, and underserved market. Increasing our network in this vital region underscores our commitment to global connectivity, working in partnership with African states to support the continent’s trade, business and tourism potential.
“This resumption builds on our existing codeshare links with RwandAir and our involvement in the new Bugesera airport in Kigali. This is part of a suite of initiatives, such as our investment last year in southern Africa’s regional carrier, Airlink, which position Qatar Airways as a key role-player within Africa’s aviation ecosystem.”
The expansion comes amid wider milestones in Africa for Qatar Airways as it celebrates 20 years of flights to South Africa and Kenya. The airline also recently raised the bar for inflight innovation and customer experience by announcing that all passengers on select African routes can now access the fastest internet available on-board, allowing them to enjoy a completely free Wi-Fi service for streaming, gaming, and working seamlessly at 35,000 feet.
Qatar Airways is the first, largest, and only carrier in the MENA region to offer a fully complimentary Starlink service to customers. The reigning World’s Best Airline, as voted by Skytrax last week, also operates the largest Starlink-equipped fleet of Boeing 777s in the world. The airline has just announced a partnership with IMG, a leading global sports marketing agency, to launch a next-generation in-flight sports streaming experience exclusively available on the airline’s Starlink-connected aircraft. For the first time, passengers will be able to enjoy high-definition coverage of Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra – IMG’s premium live sports channels for the airline and cruise industries, via a dedicated web player on their personal electronic devices, ensuring they never miss a moment of the action at 35,000 feet.
Qatar Airways’ focus on boosting Africa’s economic growth includes its cargo capacity: for example, in February it added nine extra Boeing 777 freighters to its usual schedule on the Nairobi-Doha route in order to meet demand ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Qatar Airways has also embarked on a recruitment drive to bolster the nearly 8,500 full-time employees from across Africa who are currently working within the Qatar Airways Group, both in Doha and its operations across the world.
The resumption of Kigali flights will connect people and goods from the airline’s network of more than 170 global destinations to Rwanda onboard Qatar Airways’ Airbus A320, featuring 12 flatbed Business and 120 Economy Class seats.
The flights will operate every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
Flight Schedules:
- Doha (DOH) to Kigali (KGL) – Flight QR1389: Departure *08:20, Arrival *13:30
- Kigali (KGL) to Doha (DOH) – Flight QR1390: Departure *15:50, Arrival *22:50
*All are local times at destination. The addition of Kigali to the network will further bolster Qatar Airways’ Africa capacity which currently averages over 44,000 seats per week.
Qatar Airways – the only five-star global airline based in the Middle East – now offers over 170 weekly flights to 30 cities across Africa.
Over the past year, Qatar Airways has also optimised its schedule in most African destinations to improve connectivity to key destinations, including Brussels, Guangzhou, London, New York, and Washington through its award-winning hub, Hamad International Airport.