Rwanda, Angola sign airspace agreement

KIGALI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda and Angola on Wednesday signed an agreement granting their national airlines the fifth freedom right to fly at each other's airports without limitations.

Angola's TAAG Airlines will be free to pick passengers from Rwanda to any destination while RwandAir can as well freely fly to Angola and pick passengers to any destination, Rwanda's state minister for transport Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye said after signing the agreement.

He projected that with the agreement, RwandAir could consider using the Angola route to fly to South American destinations and Portugal.

The airspace agreement would boost relations between the two countries in various aspects, said Augusto da Silva Tomas, Angola's minister of transport.

Rwanda also signed an agreement of the fifth freedom right with Togo on Tuesday.

The agreements were signed on the sidelines of a four-day aviation safety management symposium that opened in Kigali on Tuesday.

RwandAir has recently launched flights to South Africa's Cape Town and Nigeria's Abuja, increasing its destinations to 26.

With a fleet of 12 aircraft including two wide-body Airbus A330 acquired last year, the airline fly to destinations across East, Central, West and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Enditem