Review of RwandAir flight from Dubai to Kigali in Business

Greetings to you all,
According to Routesonline.com, fledging East African carrier WB is set to launch London Gatwick within the next 3 months, also before the fall 2017 its CEO John Mirenge expects Mumbai to welcome one of the 2 brand new A330 recently delivered along with New York for 2019 (plus Mars for 2025, surpassing the NASA….) to "connect the Universe to Africa" and "Africa to the Universe" through Kigali future airport; the New Bugesera International.
Obviously, I could not wait for such a long time because even in developping countries, let alone in Africa, you are never guaranteed when an airline will go bust and its aircrafts seized. So, the sonner you fly the better… :-)

On short notice, an Air France return ticket was bought 1 week prior the date of travel for a dire EUR 685. The easy to navigate RwandAir website suggests Dubai-Kigali-Dubai for EUR 1100, nevertheless a multi - city ticket all in business costs only EUR100 extra with, at that time, higher chances to catch the sleek heavy!
The entire routing:
1. Air France AF7689, Montpellier – Paris CDG, A320 – Y: no report
2. Air France AF662, Paris CDG – Dubai, B77W – Y: no report
3. RwandAir WB301, Dubai – Kigali, A332 – J: you are here
4. RwandAir WB402, Kigali – Nairobi, B737 – J: click here
5. Kenya Airways KQ670, Nairobi – Kisumu, E190 – Y: no report
6. Kenya Airways KQ657, Kisumu – Nairobi, E190 – Y: click here
7. Kenya Airways KQ608, Nairobi – Mombasa, E190 – Y: no report
8. RwandAir WB301, Mombasa – Kigali, A332 – J: click here
9. RwandAir WB300, Kigali – Dubai, A332 – J: click here
10. Air France AF655, Dubai – Paris CDG, B77W – Y: no report
11. Air France AF7688, Paris CDG – Montpellier, A320 – Y: no report
Without my luggage left in Paris by AF, it's with bitterness that I discovered the 3rd Terminal in DXB at 1:30 am after a quick AED 35 taxi ride from T1 (Since no bus or metro service links it to T1/3) as, sadly RwandAir relocated here from T1 in March 2015.
T2 is a single-storey passenger terminal which has been recently renovated and refurbished with all necessary facilities such as bars, restaurants, cafes, duty free and lounges. It houses low cost airlines and third world carriers like Eritrean Airlines, Iraqi Airways, Turkmenistan Airlines.
At 2 am near zone 2, the typical African crowd was gathered with an average of 3 large bags per person when the station manager came to inform the desks would open at 2:45 am.
The friendly Asian agent confirmed the most important information of the day: the "big aircraft is on its way" and allocated seat 2H.

Dubai Terminal 2 curbside at 1:30 am

A low cost terminal

No carpet, no flower at the J class counter (left)

Despite being entered in the UAE well past midnight, the passport was stamped the day before, which was a good thing as it would have been very hard to justify to the immigration officer the present 2 hours and half stay here :-) . Yeah I love visiting airport terminals… lol
RwandAir JCL guests (not sincerely sure about the future Premium Eco) can use the Marhaba lounges right after the passport control. Past the reception desk, this blind facility includes 2 rooms of different size and amenities, however the mayor disappointment is the lack of shower. Interestingly both dinner and breakfast food items were on display of the main lounge room.

Marhaba Lounge entrance

Computers and printing station at the left

The main room

F&B (soft/hot only) buffet

Cold food stuffs

Hot food items

The second (smoking) room with a staffed bar

Sampling a bit of everything

Lounge stamp from the 6/11/16 (???)

Thankfully only a few meters separated the lounge from the correct gate. T2 doesn't have any jetbridge at all, hence passengers are bussed to the aircraft after a rather useless priority boarding call for business and frequent travellers.

A busy hall even at odd hours

Call for priority boarding respected

"The Dream of Africa", christened Ubumwe (=Unity), a 3 months old ship

Adrenaline surge

At door 2L, a well groomed male greeted and checked the stub to direct the flow of passengers. The first impressions of the brand new cabin were extremely positive! Much better than the hideous eccentric colour scheme mixing 70's style orange and grass green that render had unveiled last year!
One feels a more soothing and conducive atmosphere for resting.

Imigongo design, a classy art made from cow dung and dirt!

Notice on the bulkheads, the Mounts Karisimbi at the right, and Bisoke at the left.

The seat (more details in the Kigali – Dubai segment)

The senior stewardess offered the cloakroom, then handed over some newspaper and when boarding was completed, as often, a service of hot towel and PDB (passion/orange juice or water) followed.

Guess who's the boss here?

Flight happened a Tuesday morning…

Piping hot towel

Orange, passion juices and water

Cheers!

Since RwandAir flies to a growing network in French-speaking African countries – annoucements were made in French and English from the flight deck, Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda from the the cabin crew sounded very just logical when they were heard, who then apologized for the 40 min delay at push back.
Take off video:

Since the inflight entertainment was operational as soon as boarding, an opportunity to flick through the channels on the standard sized touchscreen (for JCL) appeared during the climbing. No much room for improvement here, the overall content rivals with the likes of ET and KQ. The movie and series selection focuses mainly on Western (US only??) stuffs. Too bad for a country whose mountainous landscape has earned the moniker of "Hillywood" omits to support local, Nollywood and African blockbusters, clearly its bread and butter so far!

To begin

CAN should welcome soon WB's wb!

Sharp resolution (the pic does not do justice to it)

29 movies

15 series

8 kid programs

10 games

7 music styles (only these nonstop compilations – no album)

Excellent new noise cancelling headphones!

The second Airbus, an A333, landed yesterday 1/12/16 at Kigali.

Approximately 60 min after the push back, the cute cabin attendant orally suggested for breakfast an omelette with (chicken) sausages or sausages and a last option that I fail to remember. The visible menu on the IFE was purely embellishing.
The reasonably portionned brekkie served in one go, increased the time to catch fourty winks after the crew lowered all window blinds, even if ET expresses more class on a similar flights to/from JNB with a 2 course breakfast. Not a big deal though!

Nice new idea from WB

Looks yummy!

Breakfast tray contents and menu description are alike ;-)

Nothing exceptionnal though it would have been nice from the crew to verbally mention the mushrooms

Rwandan tea, nice to get sweetener

The fully extended position of the seat does not guarantee an optimal digestion and rest, unless one activates the massage function – or it may just be a personnal feeling.

Just soap – hand/body lotion and/or perfume would be nice additions.

As of now, an adorning (=useless) W class it's not loaded yet on GDS.

Fully reclined

As stipulated on the wifi leaflet, over Ethiopia (1/3 of the total trip distance lol) wifi doesn't work so, let's finish off the night. New blanket and of better quality.

10 MB offered

My bad, I have forgotten the English version :-(

(Fast forward)
Captain Marcel came into the blower for enquiring of our well being, giving our current position and annoucing the beginning of "the end". A minute or so later, the friendly Rwandan stewardess brought over a glass of bubbly along with a bottle of still water!Service hard to fault !

Kind of second "service" minutes away from decreasing altitude.

Jackets were handed over, cabin got prepared and secured and "Ubumwe" touched down runway 28 at 11:15 am, meaning a wee 40 minutes late.
Video of landing at Kigali

Slightly disappointed as you can not view the current route flown

National Road 3 leads to Tanzania.

Kigali Free Trade Zone

The 6 months old taxiway

Have you noticed the tail of an Antonov 24?

Passenger terminal building

Coastal Aviation charter

A short walk on a wet apron enabled half the pax to enter in Rwanda or the other half to continue the journey elsewhere in Africa.
The next flight showcases my first international transfer at my home airport on a short leg to NBO.

RwandAir title should have been bigger imo