Reviving national airline my priority – Dapaah

The government of President Nana Akufo-Addo has set its sights on resuscitating Ghana’s collapsed national airline to win back Ghana’s reputation in air travel, Aviation Minister-designate Cecilia Abena Dapaah has disclosed.

According to her, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration will explore the possibility of bringing back into existence a national airline.

A few years ago, Ghana was operating Ghana International Airlines as a national airline. It, however, ceased operations on May 13, 2010. The airline was formed after its predecessor, Ghana Airways, was liquidated in June 2005.

Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, a day after being named as Minister-designate for Aviation, Mrs Dapaah said: “We had a national airline which used to be the pride of Ghana and now that we are in government, we will deliberate and look at the possibilities available and decide on how to approach a revival of the airlines.”

“We would have wished that our carrier would be like Ethiopian Airlines, which is doing well in the aviation sector. This is not something we cannot do and, so, we will have a thorough analysis of the issues relating to a national airline and look out for the way forward. It will be our pride and will give us the international exposure we need for an airline to be called a national airline.”

She added that the current government would have a second look into most of the initiatives and contracts awarded by the John Mahama administration in the aviation sector before deciding whether or not to continue with those projects.

“I believe that you need to have a second look at the programmes and be convinced that it is something you want to continue or not. You will need to find out whether the contracts and the projects were in order before you pump in additional money. And, so, our investigations will determine whether or not we should continue with the projects started by the erstwhile administration."