Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ghana seeks to revive national carrier with new dreamliners

More articles

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]hana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with American multinational corporation Boeing for three 787-9 Dreamliners as part of a relaunch strategy for its new national carrier.

“We need to be able to ferry Ghanaians to Europe, North America to Asia for business. We need to ferry them from those places back to Ghana to do business and enjoy,” Aviation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda told reporters at the airshow.

Ghana hopes to launch a new airline with Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliners by early 2020 with flights to Europe, North America and Asia, while servicing routes within Africa with up to six smaller Dash 8-400 aircraft, which were also provisionally ordered on Tuesday from Canada’s De Havilland Canada.

Ghana’s government will hold a 10 per cent stake in the carrier, which is yet to be named, and the rest will be held by the private sector, the minister said. Adda said he was in talks with regional carriers including Ghana-based Africa World Airlines to invest in the new airline, but no deal was finalised yet.

Related:Under African skies – The liberalisation of civil aviation in Africa

“If [one of the regional carriers] joins us as a partner, we will go together” on intercontinental routes, he said.

Adda made no mention of Ethiopian Airlines, which was reported earlier this year to have sealed a partnership agreement with Ghana to develop and run a national airline.

“The government are clearly throwing their weight and support behind the new venture,” said airline consultant Nick Fadugba, chief executive of African Aviation Services. “It is a signal that they are determined to do it with or without Ethiopian [Airlines], but if it has Ethiopian’s support then it will have a greater chance of success.” The new carrier could boost Ghana’s chances of becoming an aviation hub in West Africa, Adda told reporters. Existing Ghanaian airlines do not fly on intercontinental routes, according to Adda.

However, the plans could overlap with Ethiopian’s affiliated hub in neighbouring Togo, which is barely 100 miles away.

“The challenge for Ethiopian will be how to balance their hub in Lome, Togo, with a new hub in Ghana,” Fadugba said.

A string of attempts to set up airlines in West Africa has floundered for political or financial reasons.

But Ghana has seen a stable economic environment following the conclusion of a three-year lending program with the International Monetary Fund in March, and oil revenues that have boosted its growth to one of the highest in the region.

Read Also

Rwanda boosts logistics with high tech dry port in Kigali

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Top News

Travel

The Africa Logistics

The Africa Logistics is a print and online portal that offers latest news and firsthand information in the logistics industry.

More

NEWS

Social

© Copyright 2024, The Africa Logistics. All Rights Reserved