Major progress made on airport projects

Mrs Cecilia Dapaah, the Minister of Aviation, has said significant progress had been made on major airport projects across the country, including 87 per cent completion of the Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

She assured the airline operators, stakeholders and the travelling public of the Ministry’s commitment to meeting the deadline for commissioning by April 30, 2018.

Mrs Dapaah was speaking at the second Aviation Breakfast Meeting organised by Aviation Ghana, an Aviation-oriented PR organisation, in partnership with the Ministry of Aviation and Board of Airlines in Accra on the theme: “The Role of Airlines in Creating an Aviation Hub.”

The Terminal 3 is designed to accommodate five million passengers a year and will process 1,250 passengers within an hour.

The event brought together aviation sector regulators and operators, including airlines, to discuss pertinent issues affecting airlines and possible ways to addressing them to move the sector forward and promote the growth of the industry.

Mrs Dapaah said some of the issues raised at the first breakfast meeting were being attended to by the Ministry and assured operators of government’s commitment to supporting the operations and activities of the airline by formulating policies.

She said the concern on the removal of import duties on aircraft spare parts raised last year had been forwarded to the Minister of Finance for consideration.

Some of the issues discussed included the proposed removal of the import duties on aircraft spare parts, waiver on airport tariffs for airline employees and the negative impact of harmattan on air navigation services.

Mr Simon Allotey, the Director-General of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, said the Authority had made various investments in navigation equipment to improve on flight operations at the Airport.

He said the installation of modern air navigation systems across the various airports had upgraded their communication equipment as well.

“It is to ensure safety of flight operations in all the country’s airports,” he added.

He called on the travelling public to bear with the airlines when flights were cancelled or delayed due to harmattan conditions.

Mr John Attafuah, the Managing Director of Ghana Airport Company Limited, said the new Terminal 3 would have a dedicated prayer room to cater for the spiritual needs of Muslims. He said by the end of March, this year, the contractor would fix the car park.