RwandAir and Qatar Airways have signed a codeshare agreement to offer travellers more choice and greater connectivity to more than 65 destinations across Africa and the rest of the world.

As part of the deal, the Rwandan flag carrier will also launch new non-stop flights in December between its Kigali hub and Doha.

Yvonne Makolo, RwandAir CEO, said: “This is a major milestone for RwandAir and marks the beginning of an exciting new journey with Qatar Airways. We are also immensely proud to welcome Doha to our route network, connecting customers with Qatar’s hub and further expanding their flight map.

“As we continue to grow out of the pandemic, this partnership represents yet another extremely important step on our recovery runway, and we hope to deliver more commitments like this to our customers in the very near future.”

Akbar Al-Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, added: “We share a very close and collaborative bond with Rwanda and welcome RwandAir’s new non-stop service between Kigali and our home in Doha. The new partnership will help position Qatar Airways in the region and complement our African expansion strategy.”

The agreement also gives Qatar customers access to destinations such as Bujumbura, Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. In turn, the new codeshare will enable RwandAir customers to book attractive offers to popular destinations in the US, such as New York, Washington DC, Dallas and Los Angeles.

It will also see these offers extended to key European cities such as London, Zurich and Madrid, and points across Asia, such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

Both airlines recently announced a loyalty partnership, giving RwandAir Dream Miles and Qatar Airways Privilege Club loyalty members access to each other’s destinations.

Customers will be able to accrue and redeem miles across their reciprocal route networks and access the airlines’ airport lounges at both airlines’ hubs in Doha and Kigali.