[Ghana] Aviation Fuel to Drop by 20 percent
Operations of airline companies are expected to get a major boost as a result a decision by government to reduce the cost of aviation fuel.
President John Dramani Mahama, who announced this yesterday, said the government had held consultations with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), following complaints that Ghana’s aviation fuel was one of the most expensive in the sub-region.
“The NPA will announce details shortly, but the decision is to reduce aviation fuel cost by 20 percent,” President Mahama said.
“I am sure this will improve the volumes of passenger traffic that the airlines register, and it will make Ghana a preferred destination for fueling and also increase traffic and enhance revenue generation.”
President Mahama was speaking at the commissioning of a seven-storey building for the Ghana Civil Aviation Training Academy (GATA) in Accra.
He said the government would continue to make interventions that would promote the growth of Ghana’s aviation industry.
“Our vision is to make Ghana the preferred aviation hub in West Africa,” he said, urging the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) to work collaboratively towards attaining that vision.
“The Accra flight information region is reputed to be one of the safest in the world because of the dedication of the staff at the GCAA.”
The President commended the GCAA for building the academy from its internally generated funds, stressing that training and retraining remained critical to ensuring effective air traffic control.
He challenged the GCAA to nurture GATA to become a centre of excellence, noting that the building complex – which is equipped with world-class lecture rooms, air traffic control simulation centres, a 200-seating capacity auditorium, two technical libraries, a computer laboratory and a language centre – would now put GATA in favourable position to offer quality training to aviation professionals across Africa.
Earlier, the Minister for Transport, Mr Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, said Ghana had the potential to become an aviation pivot in the sub-region. He hailed the construction of the academy as a milestone that would enable GATA to run aviation training programmes in Ghana and boost the human resource capacity of airport personnel.
In his address, the Director-General of GCAA, Mr Simon Allotey, said Ghana was poised to enhance aviation expertise in Africa through GATA.
He said the country currently had the best safety record. Ghana, he added, was one of the best in Africa due to its safety regime.
He said a number of strategies had been designed to improve the infrastructural and human capacity of Ghana’s aviation industry to achieve excellence.
