10 Months After Fatal Aircrash Furtive Moves to Revive 'Airlink'

Ten months after the operations of the flagship of the Ghana Air Force (GAF), Air Link, came to a screeching but fatal halt on June 5, last year, some furtive moves are being made by some Air Force officers to get the limping airline out of the hangar and flying again. To put flesh on the well-rehearsed plan put together last November, a company, Sobel Air Line, has been registered in Ghana with the tacit support of two close buddies of former President Jerry Rawlings.

An F-27 Fokker aircraft has been procured from Nigeria ostensibly to resume the domestic flights performed by the grounded Ghana Air Force carrier, Chronicle can reveal. Way back in November, last year before the December polls, Chronicle Intelligence picked up reports that the plane had been ferried into the country from Nigeria.

It was initially kept at the Air Force base at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) but later taken to the Sankofa Aero Club after the December elections. It was finally ferried out of the country immediately the NDC lost the elections.

Among the list of high rollers believed to be behind the project are Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey and Group Captain Richard Fordwour. These gentlemen are basically the main players behind the Air Link project.

Mamphey was Director of Operations at the Air Force station in charge of Air Link operations.

He also doubled as the Presidential Pilot in the NDC government. Fordwour, the closer of the two to the former President was the NDC government's Special Advisor on Aviation, a role being played currently by Dr Amoako Tuffour in the Kufuor government.

All aviation matters and allied issues that went to the Castle were directed to Fordwuor's office. Both were also members of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and Ghana Airways boards respectively until it was recently reconstituted.

Nigeria based former Air Force pilot Captain Victor Opoku together with an Indian businessman, Shirish Ravel, owner of Pan African, a Nigerian registered aviation company, are the main backers of this venture, Chronicle can reveal. (Fordwour, Mamphey and Opoku have been friends since their flying school days).

But for the results of the December polls, which brought the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to power Sobel Air line would have commenced operation. Within a space of one year after its incorporation Sobel received all the necessary documentation, including an air operators certificate and an air carrier license from the GCAA to operate.

(Other applicants have been placed on the waiting list since 1996) The transition threw the project off gear as its owners discovered suddenly that the exit of the NDC had taken with it their power to pull the strings they used to pull, a source told the Chronicle. Mamphey has denied any involvement in the venture.

Fordwour is yet to respond to Chronicle enquiries on the issue. A questionnaire to this effect was sent to him about a fortnight ago.

But Chronicle can reveal that plans are far advanced to launch the operation of Sobel. Already the company has secured a two-storey building at the Airport Residential Area, where they are going to operate from.

The house is directly opposite the Aviation House. This development has come at a time when the private airline industry is virtually belly up.

Airlines like MukAir, FanAir, Mframa Airlines, which blazed the trail in the private aviation industry have either folded up or have been taxed to the point of insolvency. The dream of their owners to provide services on the domestic market and possibly extend it to cover the West Coast did not fly, as they had to operate in the same market with Air Link whose operation was wholly absorbed by the taxpayer.

Other airlines, which braved the odds to stay in business, have been given licenses solely to perform charter flights. They only survive by carrying passengers sourced from tour agencies.

This development has also emerged against the backdrop of patronage and boardroom power play encountered by operators in the local aviation industry. "At the time private airline operators could not obtain an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and Air Carrier Licence (ACL) to operate on the domestic market and also to carry civilians respectively, Civil Aviation short-circuited the process by processing the documents for Sobel Airline within a year," fumed one frustrated airline operator.

Airlink's operations, was grounded by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) following the tragic crash. Seven people died, while several others suffered varying degrees of injury in a crash blamed on pilot error.