On Friday the Rwandan government appointed Ms. Yvonne Manzi Makolo as RwandaAir new Chief Executive Officer.
She takes over at the helm of the airline alongside a growing number of professional women from the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills‘ who hold similar leadership positions, the latest such appointment being that of Michaella Rugwizangoga as CEO of Volkswagen Rwanda.
Her substantive appointment brings to an end the interim situation over the past year when Col. Chance Ndagano was brought in as Acting CEO following the departure of John Mirenge.
According to ATC news, Ms. Yvonne was for the past year part of the top team in the national airline, holding the position of Deputy CEO in charge of Corporate Affairs.
Ms. Yvonne’s appointment comes at a time when RwandAir is looking to expand their African and intercontinental destination network with Abuja and Cape Town services due to be launched in April and May. Also under planning are new long haul flights to Guangzhou in China and New York in the United States.
Work is underway at present to meet the regulatory and security requirements for US flights which include having Kigali’s international airport audited by the FAA before being granted Category One status, prerequisite to launch the process for direct flights from Rwanda to the US.
