Dates for the second Aviation Africa event have been announced today with the venue being named as Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, recently named by United Nations as Africa’s prettiest city.

AVIATION AFRICA 2017 will be the 2nd event in the Aviation Africa series, the first having been held in May 2015 in Dubai and attended by over 400 delegates, featuring 40 exhibitors and 12 sponsors.

AVIATION AFRICA 2017 will take place on 22 & 23 February 2017 at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. The event will be a two-day conference and exhibition focusing on all aspects of the aviation industry including MRO, Business Aviation, defence and commercial aviation.

The event is supported by the Rwandan Government including the Ministry of Infrastructure, Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority and RwandAir. The Rwanda Development Board, Akagera Aviation and Kigali Serena Hotel are confirmed partners.

Why Rwanda? – Rwanda has an open visa policy for all African and international visitors, operating a visa-on-arrival service, welcoming participants globally and Africans from across the entire continent. It has a strategic geographic location, a large investment in tourism and hospitality and high levels of security.

According to IATA’s latest forecast Rwanda is one of the 10 African countries who’s aviation market is expected to grow by 7-8% each year on average over the next 20 years, doubling in size each decade. The World Bank in 2015, voted Rwanda 46th in the world and 2nd in Africa after Mauritius as best countries to do business in.

Aviation experts say 2015 could well have been the year when a strong foundation was laid for the country’s aviation industry. They point to the $45 million expansion works at Kigali International Airport, including terminal expansion and airside parking, the planned new airport at Bugesera, 40 kilometres from the capital, with $750 million support, and the upgrading of Kamembe airport among others.

Kigali Airport was recently ranked 7th in Africa and the best Airport in East Africa by Skytrax. According to experts this rank could be a game-changer in attracting future investors.

RwandAir is expanding its routes and there are more airlines than ever flying into Rwanda, including Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Kenya Airways, KLM, Turkish Airlines, SN Brussels and Emirates Cargo.