New National Airline: Ghana turns to Emirates to get it flying | By Dominick Andoh | Ghana is seeking investment and technical support from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to create a new national airline to tap into its growing aviation market and take advantage of its strategic geographic location.
Following a botched attempt to re-establish a new national airline with Ashanti Airlines and its foreign partner, Zotus Group, led by former footballer Emile Heskey, the John Mahama- administration has now committed to starting on a clean slate and re-opening the bidding process.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, recently engaged key government officials in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and sought their support for establishing a new national airline.
“We also discussed two priority areas of President Mahama’s government, labour export for Ghanaian youth to the UAE and technical support for a new national airline,” Mr. Ablakwa wrote in a social media post on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Mr. Ablakwa’s engagement with the Emirati senior official follows an earlier discussion between the Transport Minister, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, and some key aviation sector stakeholders in Abu Dhabi and the inauguration of a national airline task force.
Mr. Bukari on the sidelines of the recently held 64th Annual Conference of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA) in Abu Dhabi, courted support for Ghana’s new national airline.
The National Airline Task Force, inaugurated by the Minister for Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, on May 7, 2025, is expected to develop a business model and operational framework for the National Airline.
The task force is also expected to coordinate engagements with potential strategic and technical partners, oversee regulatory compliance and certification processes, and facilitate the initial operational arrangements, including staffing, fleet acquisition, and route planning.
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.
Multiple attempts at getting a new national airline to fly
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) before 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. However, it was unable to secure the final AOC.
New National Airline: Ghana turns to Emirates to get it flying | AviationGhana
