Goldstar Air: Ghana’s Economic Tool

The wholly owned Ghanaian airline, Goldstar Air, with an issued Licence from Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), to operate international flights, is awaiting aircraft inspection to start operations to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and West Africa.

The airline has set its sights on becoming a leading contributor to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The airline seeks to stimulate increased trade volume, investment, and business activities in the country.

Goldstar Air, the wings of Ghana, will enhance the quality of the country’s economic transformation. This sustainable innovation is in line with massive job creation, poverty reduction, and a foreign exchange earner for Ghana, making the airline the financial instrument of the country.

The commencement of the operations of Indigenous Goldstar Air guarantees the stabilization of the local currency (Cedi): and stands as a major priority to put the country on a sound footing.

Based on the 2021 census data, 38% of Ghana’s population comprises young people aged 15-35, 35% are children under 15, and only 4% are older than 65. There is no denying the fact that the youth of the country remains a critical resource in 21st-century nation-building and development, and the airline is working on creating worth for the youth in Ghana.

According to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldstar Air Eric Bannerman, the airline's discovery of new processes, tools or devices will lead to a huge jump in employment. When entrepreneurship results in discoveries, the whole economy benefits.

Goldstar Air will be a valuable contributor to Ghana’s economic prosperity and provide a rapid worldwide transportation network, making it essential for global businesses to generate economic growth, create jobs, and facilitate international trade and tourism. The economic tool deals with benefits and costs, usually measured in monetary terms, and with effectiveness to serve as a sort of a quotient or ratio of both cost and benefits.

When the labor force gains more human capital, including skills and general knowledge, producers gain the tools to make more goods and provide more services. When people trade their money for goods and services, a mutually beneficial exchange occurs, and when multiplied across the entire economy, it increases growth and well-being.

The production level can be measured by gross domestic product (GDP), the total dollar value of the goods and services produced yearly. Therefore, economic growth refers to an increase in GDP, which, in turn, leads to job creation and more employment.

Mr. Bannerman emphasized the seven principles of microeconomics fundamental concepts, such as the laws of demand and supply. marginal thinking, incentives, opportunity cost, trade-offs, and efficiency will form the basis of the airline’s behavior.

With our proposed partnership with Ghana Post, the airline aims to emulate the strategy of the United States Postal Service, the second-largest employer in the United States with 525,469 career employees and 114,623 non-career employees as of 2023. United States Postal Service revenue in the most recently reported quarter was $19.8 billion. In 2022, revenue generated from parcel shipping activities in the United States amounted to 198 billion U.S. dollars globally. That year, the global parcel shipping revenue amounted to approximately 485 billion U.S. dollars.

Together with Ghana Post, we will be offering pickup and delivering services directly to about 360 Ghana Post outlets, with stop-by-stop tracking available 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The airline will prioritize Ghana Post cargo to ensure a seamless and frictionless experience, allowing us to focus on growing our businesses and driving year-over-year growth.

Goldstar Air will be coming up with an integrated platform that will give leverage to exporters of Ghanaian goods who have registered with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA). The airline will put at the disposal of all the companies who will sign on to our integrated platform for free advertising space, on our in-flight magazine, integrated platforms, and aircraft screens during takeoff and landing to promote, publicize, and make their merchandise or products tick and also sell their made-in-Ghana products as duty-free on board, adding that the exporters should be willing to sign an agreement with the airline to be the sole transporter.

Ghana now has three major international airports, and then several secondary domestic airports, for a total of seven airports: Accra (ACC), Tamale (TML), Wa (WZA), Kumasi (KMS), Ho (HZO), Takoradi (TKD), and Sunyani (NYI).

Goldstar has applied to lease the Kotoka International Airport (ACC) Terminal Two (2) building to use it as the airline’s main hub, which is underutilized. The airline will build modern passenger boarding bridges, duty-free shops, gyms, saloons, offices, and beautiful convenient customer-centric experiences for departing and arriving passengers and breaking new grounds for job opportunities for the youth in aviation and part of the commitment to support government efforts to ensure the enhancement of all airports in Ghana.

The Tamale International Airport (TML) will be a pivotal hub for our airline’s cargo, maintenance, and training facilities. Plans are underway to operate international passenger and cargo flights to and from the Sahel region and Hajj flights. Given the increasing popularity and demand for fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, Goldstar Air will prioritize the transportation of perishable goods by air from the Tamale International Airport. The airline will always ensure appropriate packing and handling of the perishable goods and deliver them in good condition with shorter travel times and controlled temperatures.

Wa Airport is the fifth busiest commercial airport in Ghana and the third longest airport runway in Ghana. Goldstar Air will soon initiate non-scheduled, and Hajj flights to and from the Wa Airport (WZA) in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The airport is operated by Ghana Airport Company Limited. Upper West Region is in the northwestern part of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East Region to the east, Northern Region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north.

The airline is set to revitalize Ho Airport (HZO) in the Volta Region and the innovative approach to development will not only attract more passengers to the airport but also stimulate high-quality economic growth in the region and across the nation. By promoting ‘Destination Volta’ Goldstar Air aims to showcase Ho airport to the world and transform the region into an industrial zone, a premier tourist destination, and one of the world’s most visited tourist sites.

Goldstar Air wants to reassure the Ghanaian traveling population that the current 1,981-meter runway at the Kumasi Prempeh 1 International Airport (KMS) will be enough and safe for our narrow-body aircraft to fly direct to and from our European destinations and Saudi Arabia (Hajj Pilgrimage) until the expansion of the runway is completed to accommodate our wide-body aircraft to and from Asia, Middle East, and North America.

To make Kumasi Prempeh 1 International Airport (KMS) useful for the region, the youth must be trained to get jobs to benefit Asanteman, because it is not only about opening the airport for international passengers and aircraft but also for the local people, Kumasi Airport city and the region to benefit from the 27/7/365 economy-axillary jobs around the airport. The main reason for opening the international concourse at the airport is for Asanteman to get jobs and Goldstar Air is the obvious choice to make it happen.

The airline has introduced Afrik Allianz, a multi-model single air transportation alliance connecting Africa and beyond. Providing connectivity is fundamental to helping improve the customer experience when flying with us around the world, therefore Goldstar Air is collaborating with other airlines to launch an airline alliance called the Afrik Allianz to expand routes, share resources and establish seamless travel experience for international passengers who will get access to multiple destinations and more convenient airway connections.

Afrik Allianz aims to facilitate intra-regional trade and regional integration through the movement of goods, services, and people and the establishment of multimodal transportation connecting every corner of over 121 airports within Africa and across other continents. To maintain lower operational costs Afrik Allianz members will share resources and important facilities such as lounges, terminal space, ground handling services, maintenance bases, common marketing programs, and IT systems which will reduce overall costs while still guaranteeing a consistent level of service.

Goldstar Air signed a strategic partnership in October 2020 with the Government (GOL) of the Republic of Liberia for management services as part of the joint venture to revive the country/s flag carrier. At a meeting with the former President of Liberia His Excellency George Weah and some Ministers of State and Goldstar Air officials before the signing ceremony, the former President said the airline will provide the aviation community in Liberia the opportunity to share and disseminate vital industry information to strengthen and improve the air industry and link it to the national development which will create jobs for the youth.

The Liberia Government and Goldstar Air launched the new flag carrier Lone Star Air, wings of Liberia at Monrovia Roberts International Airport (ROB). Goldstar Air bestowed an honor by presenting a plaque to the former President of Liberia His Excellency George Weah at a ceremony marking the celebration of his 54th birthday. The plaque represents our love for the former President for his selfless, bold, and remarkable leadership skills of putting Liberia on the world map as a successful professional footballer and the great achievements in accelerating Liberia’s reconstruction and development at an unprecedented pace, therefore the airline will name one of its aircraft after the former President.

The airline’s operations from Ghana will create a continent-wide market embracing Fifty-four (54) countries with 1.3 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product of $3.4 trillion. Ghana has a significant opportunity to assert itself on the global economic stage and can capitalize on the opportunity presented by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, with a staggering Forty-four (44) million Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across Africa.

Goldstar Air is also negotiating codeshare agreements with other airlines, which will allow us to offer a more extensive route network and give our customers more options for traveling from all fifty (50) states in the United States of America and other continents to and from Africa. Goldstar Air believes this agreement will benefit our partners by increasing brand awareness and market knowledge about Africa and other continents.

In 2023, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel and tourism sector contributed 27 million new jobs, representing a 9.1% increase compared to 2022. Africa stands out as the continent with the fastest tourism growth in 2023, with international tourist arrival numbers at 96% of 2019 levels according to UN Tourism, the highest recovery percentage in the world. This translated into a total international tourist movement reaching 66.4 million.

As a flag carrier of Ghana, our vision extends to operating over one Hundred (100) modern aircraft to a network of more than ninety (90) key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, North and South America, as the airline wants to be recognized among the best one hundred (100) companies in Africa and generating sustainable job opportunities for the country. With these operations, the airline is projecting over one hundred thousand direct jobs and over one million indirect jobs which will generate sustainable job opportunities for Ghanaians to connect African businesses and capitalize on the opportunity presented by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, with a staggering 44 million Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across Africa.

Some of the jobs from which the youth will benefit are Pilots, Ground service crew, Service persons in maintenance, Cabin crew, Counter agents, Travel agents, Tour operators, Country managers, Station managers, Accountants, Flight dispatchers, Drivers, Marketing personnel, Cleaners, IT managers, Air marshals, Cargo agents, Catering services, Hotel accommodations, Fuel suppliers and others.

With Cocoa and Gold dropping value on the international market, Ghana must shift towards local participation in aviation and tourism, which Goldstar Air is the answer, for sustainable job creation in the country and ensure equitable distribution of profits within the country to bolster economic growth.

Goldstar Air will rake in more revenue annually by instituting a 24-hour economy for growth and advancement of the country and that will reduce the unemployment rate of 14.7 percent in Ghana. The country must take advantage of our location as the center of the world to position itself as an attractive destination for investment, fostering economic growth, creating well-paying job opportunities, and contributing to the development of its citizens.

Goldstar Air will initially operate flights from Kumasi Prempeh 1 International Airport to Rome, Madrid, Hamburg, London, Dusseldorf, and Milan.

Also, flights from Accra Kotoka International Airport shall include destinations such as Washington, Dubai, Lagos, Toronto, Monrovia, Conakry, Abidjan, Guangzhou, Dakar, Banjul, Rhode Island, London, and Freetown and pending cities such as Miami-Florida, Atlanta-Georgia, Chicago-Illinois, Glasgow-Scotland, Houston-Texas and many more.

In conclusion, with Ghana’s public debt reaching GHS 658.4 billion, our relationship with Boeing Company and Michigan Aerospace Manufactures Association and incentives from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport (PVD) Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Glasgow International Airport (GLA) and others, makes Goldstar the obvious choice for Ghana beyond aid and the answer to the cedi depreciation, as well as economic tool by bringing a massive relief to the country.