The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has upgraded the Republic of Rwanda's safety rating to Category 1 of the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA). This allows carriers from the East African country to start non-stop flights to the United States of America.

"With a Category 1 rating, properly licensed Rwandan air carriers are authorized to serve the United States and to enter into unrestricted code-share agreements with US air carriers," the FAA said in a statement. "The standards are set by ICAO, the United Nations technical agency for aviation."

The national airline Rwandair will therefore be able to fly non-stop to the USA in the future. It currently serves this market in cooperation with Qatar Airways, using a codeshare agreement. Since December 2, 2021, non-stop flights have been served to Hamad International Airport, where passengers can transfer to Qatar Airways aircraft bound for the United States. There is also cooperation in the direction of New York, Washington DC, Dallas and Los Angeles, London, Zurich and Madrid, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. This also follows Qatar Airways' announcement of a 49% stake in RwandAir.