More airlines ‘invade’ airspace

Air Commodore, Kwame Mamphey, Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation, has said a lot more airlines have expressed interest in doing business in the country’s airspace due to its safety rating and the development of civil aviation.

“Our airspace - called the Accra Flight Information Region, comprising the airspaces of Togo, Benin, Ghana and a large portion of the Atlantic Ocean - is considered one of the safest in the world.”

The country has this year successfully implemented the Atlantic Ocean Random Route Area programme, a key international aviation requirement, to enable aircrafts that fly over the Atlantic Ocean to fly with minimum wind effect and take advantage of the wind over the Atlantic Ocean.

Air Namibia has started operations in the country, United Airlines of the USA intends to start operations to Ghana in May 2010, Virgin Atlantic will commence its Heathrow –Accra route in summer 2010, and Delta Airlines also intends to open a new route between Accra and Atlanta, USA, in the first quarter of next year.

Another airline that has expressed interest for inter-continental operations, Eagle Atlantic, has begun certification processes to commence both domestic and regional operations.

“All of these developments in the civil aviation industry only go to strengthen our economy and improve tourism revenues for the country.”

Air Commodore Mamphey made the presentation in Accra at a ceremony to mark the 65th International Civil Aviation Day, themed ‘65 years of empowering the global community through aviation.’

“Ghana has carefully implemented all key international requirements and standards on civil aviation security and safety over the years, and is currently putting in place structures to promote and encourage general aviation and recreational flying.”

He observed that International Civil Aviation Organisation is continually exploring ways and means to make global civil aviation safer and more productive in other to hold the world together.

Dzifa Aku Attivor, Deputy Minister of Transport, said approximately 50 percent of the value of total exports is shipped through the Kotoka International Airport(KIA), while over 70 percent of the international tourists enter the country by air.

With tourism fast emerging as the fastest-growing sector of our economy, the role of air transport cannot be over-emphasised, she said.