Airport Company working for better infrastructure

Mr Charles Asare the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Airports Company Limited says the company will continue to source funding to improve infrastructure that will attract both local and foreign patronage.

He said the company is charting a path to create a better opportunity and expects an improved foreign investment flow into Ghana and West Africa as a whole.

Mr Asare was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a breakfast meeting organised by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in Washington DC to celebrate the South Africa Airways (SAA) direct flight from Accra to Washington DC.

For a start, we are improving on the existing facilities at the Kotoka International Airport and the regional airports namely Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale. This will facilitate easier and reliable transportation from the hinterland.

This year, for instance, we will open up the Wa Airport for commercial operations, Mr Asare said and further hinted that there will be a sod cutting ceremony for the construction of the Ho Airport as part of the government’s socio-economic agenda.

Mr Asare said infrastructure development was a basic requirement for airports and therefore the proposed development of a third terminal (terminal 3) at the KIA which is scheduled to commence soon will make the airport a more convenient transit facility.

He stressed that the partnership between South African Airways and Africa World Airlines (AWA) ties in with the Ghana Airports Company Ltd's vision of positioning Ghana as the preferred aviation hub and leader in airport business in West Africa.

Under the partnership, AWA will connect passengers from West African countries to Ghana for the SAA flight to Washington DC.

‘’For South Airways to select Ghana as the launching pad for its direct flight to America attest to the vision of the company, the MD said, and expressed the hope that it would mark the beginning of business connections to be developed worldwide to create an enabling environment to also attract Western interests.

Mr Asare said as a result of the above vision, the company has a strong agenda for Ghana’s socio-economic development through the aviation sector.

He said there is need for partnership in businesses in Africa to promote socio economic development on the continent and congratulated the SAA for charting the path that created opportunities on how African countries and the developed world could co-operate on a win-win basis.

The group was welcomed by Steven Hayes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the CCA who expressed gratitude to both Ghana and the South Africa for the partnership which he said would open ties between the United States and its allies in Africa.

The group was also hosted to a dinner by the US Chamber of Commerce also to celebrate the SAA achievement and to find opportunities to forge partnerships and working relations with Ghana, South Africa and other African countries.

The ceremonies were attended by the Transport Minister Mrs Dzifa, Attivor, Madam Lulama Xingwana the South African High Commissioner in Ghana, Dr John Tambi a board member of SAA and officials of the Ghana Embassy in the US.

The maiden SAA flight left Accra on the night of Sunday August 2, 2015 and safely touched ground at the Washington’s Dulles Airport early Monday morning.

The SAA flights from Accra to Washington DC will be offered four times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday as the only nonstop flight between the two cities.