GCAA must regain aviation safety reputation

Despite the recent establishment of the Aviation Safety Inspectors Association of Ghana (AVSIAG) and the completion of the report on Allied Air cargo plane crash that killed 10 people in June 2012 by the Accident Investigation Committee, Ghana’s international reputation for aviation safety has significant room for improvement, and the onus falls on the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Speakers at the AVSIAG inauguration conference talked of Ghana’s improving world status, noting that there are indications that the aviation sector’s international reputation is indeed on the uptick.

In April, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) commended Ghana for its air transport safety standards. However, because the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stripped Ghana of Category 1 status in 2005, Ghana’s air carriers are subject to limitations in flying to the United States.

Though rhetoric is plentiful regarding the nation’s hopes of regaining Category 1 status, an end to Category 2 limitations are still not in sight eight years later. To truly overcome international doubts as to its aviation safety practices, it is paramount that Ghana retains good relations with one of the world’s most powerful aviation hubs, the United States.

The Minister for Transport, Dzifa Attivor recently urged the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to intensify its efforts in earning back the coveted status. At the new organization’s inauguration, AVSIAG President Nyidu Nolasco, said that a primary objective of AVSIAG will be to support the Category 1 effort, and added that while AVSIAG itself will not be directly involved in measures to achieve the status, some members within the organization very well may be.

A strong safety reputation, Nolasco argued, is paramount to the success of Ghana’s aviation industry. “Civil aviation provides enormous economic and social benefits for national development. The air transport industry also provides catalytic benefits to international trade and travel, and generates a significant level of employment and jobs,” Nolasco said.

“All the good things about civil aviation would elude us as a country if there is no effective regulation or strict safety oversight of the industry by the state as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization.”

Nolasco has plenty of reason to be aggressive in promoting the needed improved safety regulations. Ghana’s aviation sector has faced a trying past year and a half. Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, and Belgian Air have all either suspended or limited flights in and out of Ghana due to high aviation fuel prices among other reasons, and the Allied Air Flight 111 crash at Kotoka International Airport on June 2, 2012 cast a black eye on an industry already working hard to shed labels of being unsafe.

As Ghana and Nigeria continue to compete for the status of West Africa’s travel hub, the GCAA will play an essential role as to how much focus it places on aviation safety. While key players such as Attivor and Nolasco have made their intentions clear, it would be prudent on the part of the GCAA to go all lengths to ensure that Ghana’s hopes of improving its aviation safety reputation materializes soon.