Collaboration with Niger will strengthen aviation industry – Cecilia Dapaah

Ghana has collaborated with their West African counterpart Niger to strengthen the aviation industry in the country.

The Aviation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah on Wednesday, October 25, at the first Aerospace and Aviation exhibition of West Africa at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, met with the Senior Minister and Minister of Transport for Niger; Omar Hamidou Tchiana, to deliberate on ways to strengthen and boost the sector.

Speaking with the media, the Aviation Minister said the purpose of the collaboration is to help both countries on ways to improve the aviation industry by exchanging ideas and also learning from the expertise and experiences of each other in order to become a strong team.

“You know we support each other in aviation on the west coast because we either sink or float together and I believe that will help us a lot, whatever expertise we have we can share with them, whatever experience they have they can share with us. Because, as much as we are doing individual efforts to promote aviation, we need to also blend our actions to make sure we are a strong team”, she stressed.

She further indicated that the only way Ghana’s aviation industry can survive is to follow the footsteps of other European countries as they strengthen their aviation structures before they seek out for a partner.

And according to her, that is the reason her ministry has organized the African Airshow to bring together major players within the African and Global Aviation Space to position our aviation industry at the forefront of regional and global interests.

“In Europe you see the airlines doing alliances, here we are doing individualistic. At first, Air Afrique used to cater for the Francophones, it collapsed. We had Ghana Airways, we had others ...So the trend is to strengthen your aviation structures, then you can launch out to partner, otherwise you won’t have anything to partner with, you won’t have any leverage", she explained.