Kigali International Airport served 135,189 passengers. In 2008, the airport served about 270,000 passengers. In May 2011, the Rwanda CAA announced that Kigali airport will be upgraded to meet the strong demand. Works started in October 2012 and will be completed in May 2014. In 2012, data from Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority shows that passenger traffic through Kigali International Airport grew by 30 per cent to 488,903 last year, up from 377,327 in 2011. The airport handled over 300 flights a week. The airport is designed to handle 400,000 passengers per year. According to last figures, international and domestic passenger numbers were nearly
Kigali new independent nation, but Kigali was chosen because of its more central location. The city grew slowly during the following decades, but retained a small-town feel, with just 25,000 people and five paved roads by the early 1970s. On 6 July 1973 there was a bloodless military coup, in which minister of defence Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew ruling president Gregoire Kayibanda. Businesses closed for a few days, and troops patrolled across the city, but life had returned to normal and the army had left the streets by 11 July. In April 1994 President Habyarimana was assassinated, when his plane was shot