Ghana to Reopen Expression of Interest for National Airline – President Mahama | By Dominick Andoh | The Government of Ghana plans to reopen the Expression of Interest (EoI) process, which aims to attract private sector companies with the necessary expertise and financial capabilities to collaborate to establish a new national airline.
Ghana has been without a national airline since the collapse of Ghana International Airlines in 2010, following the demise of Ghana Airways in 2004.
Following a decade of unsuccessful attempts to launch a national airline, President John Dramani Mahama says this initiative is the best way to secure a reliable partner and ensure the project’s success.
“The last attempt by the previous administration to re-establish a National Airline was unsuccessful. We will open a transparent Expression of Interest to invite competent and established partners to help us create a national airline,” President Mahama said during his State of the Nation Address to Ghana’s 276-member legislature on Thursday, February 27, 2025.
Since 2014, various governments have worked through the Transport Ministry to engage with aviation industry players, inviting bids from notable companies such as Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines, EgyptAir, South African Airways, Qatar Airways, and Ashanti Airlines.
Despite winning the bid to partner with the government on this initiative, Ashanti Airlines and its financial backers, the Zotus Group, have failed to meet critical deadlines, hindering progress in establishing the national airline.
Plans to begin ticket sales in April and May and to launch commercial flights by June or July 2023—one year after Ashanti Airlines won the bid in May 2022, failed to materialise with no plausible explanation from the group
Ashanti Airlines, which already had an Air Carrier License (ACL) prior to the tender award, filed its documentation with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) for an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC)—the second such certification mandated by law before an airline is fully established and can start scheduled and non-scheduled commercial flights.
AviationGhana sources within the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the aviation sector regulator, say that Ashanti Airlines and its partner have yet to complete the required processes to obtain an AOC and acquire aircraft.
Ghana to Reopen Expression of Interest for National Airline – President Mahama | AviationGhana.Com
