{"id":55904,"date":"2025-10-10T10:50:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T10:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/infrastructure-minister-outlines-major-shifts-once-new-kigali-airport-is\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T15:34:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:34:58","slug":"infrastructure-minister-outlines-major-shifts-once-new-kigali-airport-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/infrastructure-minister-outlines-major-shifts-once-new-kigali-airport-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Infrastructure minister outlines major shifts once new Kigali airport is complete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Gasore made the remarks on Thursday, 9 October 2025, following a meeting with senators from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security, where strategies to reduce road accidents were also discussed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe construction is progressing well. Our target is to complete the airport by 2027 and have it operational by mid-2028,\u201d Dr. Gasore said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that once operational, the new airport will serve all major domestic and international flights, while Kanombe airport will be repurposed for other uses. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLarge passenger and cargo aircraft will no longer use the Kanombe facility. We will explore alternative ways to utilise it productively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>{{Road network to support Bugesera airport to start in 2026}}<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Gasore also highlighted plans to build roads connecting the new airport to Kigali and other parts of the country, noting that at least three main routes are envisaged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese include a road linking Masaka to the airport, another connecting the southern part of Bugesera, and a major route from the Kicukiro bridge to the airport,\u201d he said. While feasibility studies are complete, the minister did not disclose the construction budget, though he confirmed works are expected to begin in early 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The new airport being constructed in a partnership with Qatar Airways, is designed to handle seven million passengers per year, with plans for a second phase to expand this to 14 million passengers annually by 2032.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-95887 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg\" alt=\" Dr. Jimmy Gasore confirmed that once the new Kigali International Airport in Bugesera is completed, the existing Kanombe airport will no longer accommodate large passenger or cargo aircraft.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-95888 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/230505091011-rwanda-airport-2-story-5a2aa.jpg\" alt=\"The new airport is expected to begin operations in mid-2028.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-95889 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/37413471720_790443627d_b-3-7be67.jpg\" alt=\"RwandAir aircraft at the Kanombe airport.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-95890 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/37000811533_e13fdb2df7_b-2-fbcb7.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Jimmy Gasore, has confirmed that once the new Kigali International Airport in Bugesera is completed, the existing Kanombe airport will no longer accommodate large passenger or cargo aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000095886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-62","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000095886,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/18518_1_-6dcfc-4b001-e82f6.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000095886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55904"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55904"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}