 Open
Skies Policy
Several trips abroad by President Rawlings to promote Ghana and the subsequent patronage by the world is virtually turning the country into a business Mecca for West Africa.
Ghana has currently embarked on an open skies policy to deregulate the aviation sector and remove bureaucratic bottlenecks. The policy had resulted in an increased number of flight arrivals at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA); a boom for the aviation business.
Confidence in the industry has soared. Ghana’s national carrier is well patronized on its European and New York-Accra routes because of strong business ties. Ghana Airways fills up an average 80 per cent of its seats on international routes and its main competitors are also consistently able to achieve a high load factor on the Ghana-Europe route.
The country as an investment location is tangibly justified; of the several airlines, KLM has the largest passenger airlift of 28,000 a year from Ghana, British Airways close to 26,000 and Swiss air takes about 14,000. Mr. E. L. Quartey , the Chief Executive of Ghana Airways , attributes the sudden interest and increase of investors to the stable and peaceful political and economic environment of the country.
"If there was political instability here and it was war torn, there would be no way of getting a flood of investors in, you would not be getting buoyant trade and growth. And therefore the fortunes of the airline could not be as bright as they are in this environment which is highly stable, and highly investor conducive", he said.
The greatest challenge for the airline industry now is how to survive the competitiveness after the government decided to liberalize the civil aviation policy.
Long before embracing the open skies policy, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on its own has embarked on a radical improvement of the airport, equipment and services. Facilities at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) have been upgraded in stages from 1991 through 1998, concentrating on improving safety and service quality. In the phase one of improvements, the runway surface was grooved to improve braking co-efficient under all weather conditions in order to improve aircraft safety. Now, British Airways flies a Boeing 777 or 747 jumbo jet to Ghana, and Swiss Air and KLM use MD 111s on their routes to Ghana.
Wing Commander A. K. Mensah , the Director General of GCAA says that to aid safety and efficiency, GCAA has installed additional navigation aids runway, taxi way apron lighting and refurbished the control tower. The sweeping improvement has paid off. KIA has recently earned the distinction of category one status from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the global benchmark for aviation safety and regulation. As part of its contribution towards the Ghana Gateway project, GCAA is embarking on an Accra airport city project. The 40 acre project, envisaged to be an exposition in modernity, will have shopping malls for classy duty-free and luxury goods, restaurants, fashion boutiques, fitness centers, top of line information and communications centers as well as recreational areas and parking lots.
| To ensure competitiveness, the GCAA decided in 1994 to privatize the aircraft and cargo handling. In a competitive bid, this service has been taken over by a British company (Gatwick Handling International) and a Belgian Company (Ferrum NU). In a joint venture the Anglo-Belgian consortium subsequently set up a company - African Ground Operations Limited (AFGO) - in 1994 to become the only air freight operators at KIA. AFGO has been able to turn around aircraft and air freight handling in Ghana by introducing the state-of-the art equipment in the handling of the business.
For the first time in its history, the GCAA which had never received any revenue from aircraft cargo handling, started receiving returns on its investments in infrastructure. The change over and the vast improvement have created confidence in existing airlines and many more new customers are being attracted to operate into Kotoka Airport.
There has been a corresponding increase in import/export cargo tonnage handled by AFGO, explained Mr. Koen Neven , Managing Director of AFGO . The company last year alone handled 25,000 tonnes of exports and is listed as one of the top 100 companies in Ghana with an approximate turnover of 9 million dollars per annum.
With industry’s potential continuing to rise and many more airlines becoming alert to the increase flow of passengers, with its high level of prosperity, Ghana’s open skies is now seen as a niche market.
Mrs. Doreen Owusu-Fianko, the Chief Executive of Ghana Tourist Board thinks that the success of the open skies policy will benefit not only the tourism industry but free economy as a whole. "Several foreign airlines operating in Ghana and other savvy investors are keenly napping Ghana as a mass tourist destination", she said.
Ghana’s sea ports and her harbors are also expected to play a major role in the Gateway Project. The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has the sole responsibility of working towards the reduction of cost of doing business at the ports in order to facilitate trade, and for vessels to be able to turn round as fast as possible. This would make the ports attractive to foreign investors.
Mr. K. D. Boateng , acting Director General of GPHA said the country’s two ports of Tema and Takoradi are up to the task. "The level of Performance and Productivity as well as the typical Ghanaian hospitality, has given us a lot of goodwill and we have started attracting cargo from some of our landlocked countries like Burkina Faso and Niger"’ he said. In line with government policy, private sector participation is going to be introduced into the activities of the ports to allow the GPHA to become a landlord and exercise only supervisory authority over the participants. "We want to allow organizations with the right expertise to come in here to do the operations at the port especially in container handling, general cargo and engineering", Mr. Boateng said.
Minister Edward Salia , whose ministry of Roads and Transport is sponsoring the organizational and institutional restructuring of the GPHA, said the ports would also undergo expansion of facilities to accommodate the ever increasing vessels and cargo into the Ghanaian ports. |
GHANA
