A new national carrier for Ghana is expected to be flying by October this year, the Transport Minister Fifi Kwetey has announced.
Mr. Kwetey said his outfit has had extensive deliberation with key stakeholders to ensure reliable and efficient services.
The start of the new airline begins the process for Ghana to regain its past glory in the aviation sector after the collapse of the Ghana International Airlines a few years ago.
Speaking to Starr Business, Mr. Kwetey disclosed the government is looking at regional flights before adding international routes.
“Our national carrier will start first with the regional routes and then overtime we start looking at long-haul,” Mr. Kwetey noted.
He added the West African country is geographically well positioned and must take advantage of it to expand the economy.
“At least most part of the world you can move from Ghana and maximally 7-8 hours you are there. That gives us quite a lot of competitiveness. So we want to explore that and use this major hub, and if you know what is happening all over, especially in Dubai in places like Singapore the hub strategy is one that is the very game changer as far as the economy is concerned.
“And we feel Ghana is so positioned in order to use ourselves as both as a maritime hub and also an airline hub as a strategy to bring about fast economic transformation,” Mr. Kwetey said.
In 2004 Ghana International Airlines was established, with 70 percent shares held by the government and 30 percent held by a US consortium GIA-USA. Faced by a myriad of issues, the airline went down in 2010.
By Osei Owusu Amankwaah
