New National Airline Coming – President Mahama | By Gifty Ruth Odamtten
Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, has assured that a new national airline would be established soon to tap into the growing traffic at the Accra International Airport, and to fulfill his government’s ambition to establish a home-based carrier.
Speaking at the presentation of the State of the Nation Address to Ghana’s Legislature, he said: “Mr Speaker, in fulfilment of my pledge to re-establish a national airline, a ten-member task force established to oversee this initiative has submitted a business model and operational framework to guide the selection of a strategic partner for the National Airline. And it shall surely come to pass soon.”
Ghana has been without a national airline since the demise of Ghana Airways in 2004 and the collapse of its successor, Ghana International Airlines, in 2010.
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
President John Dramani Mahama said the best way out is for the government to re-open a transparent Expression of Interest (EoI) process to invite competent and established partners to help Ghana create a new national airline.
The Task Force
The ten-member National Airline Task Force is chaired by Mr. Charles Asare, a former Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL).
Other members are: Mr. Twumasi Ankrah-Selby – Vice Chairman; Mrs. Yvonne Nana Afriyie Opare – Managing Director, Ghana Airports Company Limited; Mr. Hugh Tamakloe- Aviation Industry Expert; Mr. Benjamin Ahlijah – Aviation Industry Expert; Rev. Stephen Arthur – Director-General, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority; Madam Patricia Bonsu – Aviation Industry Expert; Madam Joyce Bawa Mogtari – Former Deputy Minister for Transport and Lawyer; Mr. Daniel Acquah – Former Deputy Director-General (Technical), Ghana Civil Aviation Authority; and A representative from the Ministry of Transport.
New National Airline Coming – President Mahama | AviationGhana.com
