RwandAir fleet interiors and national livery

Deborah shaped the interiors and livery for RwandAir’s inaugural nationally owned fleet of four: two Boeing 737-800NGs and two Bombardier CRJ-900 NextGens. She began by briefing Teague and Boeing’s design team on who RwandAir’s passengers were and what Rwanda should feel like on board, drawing on traditional culture, landscape, crafts such as the agaseke basket and imigongo, and a contemporary, connected country.

Working in collaboration with Teague Design, she wove that single narrative through each aircraft, from the livery outside to the colour, texture, stitching and seat choices in the cabins, and carried it into the airline’s brand and communications. What passengers saw in an advert, they felt in their seats.

She applied the same approach across both aircraft types and led a brand development workshop for executives during a two-day management retreat upcountry. She also received certification from Boeing Academy, a program that connected market positioning and communications to passenger experience.

Those four aircraft make up 31% of today’s 13-aircraft fleet. RwandAir now reaches 144+ destinations through direct and codeshare partnerships, and the latest traffic figure on its site is nearly one million passengers a year, from 2019.