Airport reopening: 1,200 passengers expected within peak period - GACL

The Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) says it is expecting to receive a total of 1,200 passengers within its peak period following the reopening of Ghana’s main airport, Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

According to Yaw Kwakwa, this comes after extensive safety measures and protocols have been instituted to allow for some 480 tests to be conducted within 15-30 minutes.

Addressing journalists at the press briefing on Monday, August 31, the Managing Director declared his outfit’s readiness to reopening the KIA to international passenger traffic after months of closure.

“We’re expecting to see some 1,200 passengers within the peak period of the reopening and within 15-30 minutes we can perform tests on about 480 people. So, taking into consideration all the odds of the maximum number of passengers we can have at a time and other factors, we have more than enough capacity to test them all.”

Meanwhile, travelers coming into Ghana will be required to pay US$150 as a COVID-19 testing fee on arrival to the airport with the Deputy Health Minister describing the cost as a good bargain.

Dr Okoe-Boye explained “the cost of the test will not put unnecessary difficulty or burden on the passenger. We looked at what is being charged across the globe so when you go to a place like Zimbabwe you pay about US$210 for a test.

“Here at the airport, we are interested in two things; the test must be very specific and sensitize which means it must tell us if you have the virus and if it says it’s negative then you pose no threat to Ghanaians” the Minister added.