Invest in quality equipment; domestic airline operators told

Mr. James Eric Antwi, the Chief Executive Officer of Starbow Airlines, has advised domestic airline operators to invest into quality equipment to ensure success in their businesses.

Mr Antwi, who gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said flight cancellation, which was often due to an aircraft not being in good condition to fly, was a major “put off” to passengers, and did not make an airlines attractive.

“Customer satisfaction is very important for the success and survival of any airline,” he emphasised.

Touching on the prospects of domestic airline operations in Ghana, Mr. Antwi said, “I believe the economy would grow and automatically that would also reflect on the domestic airline industry.”

The Starbow CEO noted that economic growth was a crucial factor to the success of local airline operations.

“If businesses are not doing well, income generation would be low, and more people would prefer to cut down on cost and travel by road,” he said.

Mr. Antwi said being in the domestic airline industry could be very challenging because one was not necessarily guaranteed of having all the seats in an aircraft being full for a flight, which typically affected the finances of an airline.

The Starbow boss, however, observed that there was some level of risk in every business set up, explaining that, a determined attitude as well as indulging in the right practices was always crucial to the success of businesses.

He said keen attention also had to be paid to customer satisfaction because the customer formed the basis of the industry and to a large extent determined the pace of business.

Starbow commenced its Accra to Sunyani flights last week, with its Q400 brand new aircraft.

The airline, which has a local staff strength of 200, commenced operations in Ghana in September 2011, with an Accra to Kumasi flight.

It later added an Accra to Tamale flight, following it up with another flight from Accra to Takoradi.