Starbow airline and the safety of passengers over the years

The aviation industry has over the past years established itself as the safest means of transport globally with statistics from the US revealing only 0.07 deaths per one billion passenger miles as compared to a rather astonishing figure of 212.57 deaths per billion passenger miles travelled with motorbikes.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures reveal that in 2015, 7.88 accidents per million flights in aviation sector in Africa were recorded with some 70 million active travellers. Despite all of this, Ghana plans to take advantage of the air transport sector which is currently growing at an average rate of 7.5% globally and 6% in Africa. The West African country has however seen a growth rate of 7.1% per annum in recent time.

But with such figures come significant worry when an airline on three separate occasions has aircrafts skidding off the runway as it moves hundreds of people domestically from one region of the country to another.

On Saturday, November 27, Kumasi-bound passengers on-board a Starbow aircraft, ATR72-500 had the scare of their lives when the plane skidded off the runway at the Kotoka International Airport and ended up in the fencing around the airport as it attempted take-off. According to reports, 5 out of the 68 people onboard the aircraft sustained varying degrees of injuries but were quickly sent to the Airport clinic by Fire Service men, who were quick to get to the scene, for treatment.

This is one of three separate incidents recorded in the last three years with Starbow aircrafts, a situation that has left many questioning the safety of the company's aircrafts.

The first time passengers of the Airline found themselves in such a horrifying situation was in 2014, when two people got injured after a Takoradi bound Starbow aircraft made an emergency landing.

In 2015, passengers on board a Tamale-bound Starbow airline also had the scare of their lives when the BAE aircraft they were travelling in, crash-landed at the Tamale Airport. These incidents, as worrying as they appear to be, appear to be one of the contributing factors to the recent dip in numbers from 778,466 passengers in 2013 to a little over 500,000 passengers in recent time.

Deputy Minister of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo, who was onboard the Kumasi bound flight which skidded off the runway on Saturday November 25,2017 blamed the pilot for being negligent explaining that he failed to take into cognizance the fact that the weather was cloudy, making it unsafe to take off



The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Ghana Airports Company Limited have issued a joint statement following Saturday’s incident promising to conduct a thorough investigation to find out the cause of the accident. This won't be the first time investigations into similar incidents are being conducted though few have seen reports that have emerged from such investigations.

CEO of Starbow James Antwi said in a statement on Saturday said; “All of us at Starbow at this time remain dedicated to our guests, our crew and their families. Their safety and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, and we will cooperate fully with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and other agencies, to determine the cause of this incident. We hope to be able to provide further information in due course’.

As reassuring as those words may be, not all seem convinced that traveling domestically with a Starbow flight is the safest option available. Perhaps, something drastic ought to be done to allay the fears of scores of Ghanaians and foreign nationals alike who have become increasingly concerned about these repeated cases of near calamities which may, in the long run, derail the president’s vision of making Ghana an aviation hub.

Will these safety concerns derail government's plans of making Ghana the aviation hub in West Africa?