努力建设西非次区域航空枢纽

⬆阿联酋航空公司飞机降落在加纳科托卡机场T3航站楼  图片提供：埃德蒙·史密斯·阿桑蒂

英文版

Making Ghana’s airport hub in the West African sub-region

By Edmund Smith-Asante  Journalist for Daily Graphic, Ghana

May I please have your attention. Passengers travelling on flight EK788 should please conclude departure formalities and proceed to gate three, a female voice bellowed from speakers above me after a bell tone had sounded.

It was all so familiar to me as I had had previous opportunities to travel by air. That notwithstanding, it was my first time using the most modern Terminal 3 facility of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA). Terminal 3 matches any international airport facility worldwide in terms of its modern architecture, quality and sheer beauty though it may not compare in size with China’s Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Frankfurt’s International Airport or Dubai’s International Airport, just to name a few.

Terminal 3

Ghana’s aviation industry has seen steady improvement over the past years and the construction of Terminal 3, which begun during the term of Ghana’s immediate past government on October 30, 2015 and was completed on June 29, 2018 under the current administration at a cost of US$250 million is the latest enhancement to the country’s most used air transport facility.

It has the capacity to handle 1,250 passengers an hour., which adds up to about five million passengers a year. The facility is equipped with six boarding bridges and seven links (expandable to eight in the future), a large commercial and retail area, three business lounges and purpose built transit facilities.

It has five levels spread across 45,000 square meters and has parking space for 700 cars. It has six contact stands for Code E aircraft and two remote stands. At the departure level it has 56 check-in desks, 30 passport control centres and eight security lanes. At the Arrival level it has 24 immigration counters, four e-gate positions [expandable to eight] and four reclaim devices.
The terminal is equipped with a fully automated baggage handling system to handle both destination and transit luggage at 3,5OO bags an hour.

A Commercially Important Person (CIP) passenger lounge facility, which can host 50 people, has been added to the new facility.
The key objective of the CIP is to offer specialised and luxury services to passengers who anticipate more comfort during their arrival and departure formalities at a fee.

In an interview when the facility was opened, the Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Mr John Dekyem Attafuah, said the CIP offered a unique travel experience with enhanced privacy and personalised assistance from curbside to airside.

Mr Attafuah explained that help agents had also been trained to cater for the needs of first-time passengers who might find it difficult accessing e-services.

“Terminal 3 at Kotoka International Airport promises to be the game-changer as Ghana inches closer to become the destination of choice and the preferred aviation hub in West Africa.

“The terminal is designed to have modern facilities that will undoubtedly position KIA among the best equipped airports in the region. In fact, it fits into the GACL’s vision of positioning the country as the preferred aviation hub and leader in the airport business in West Africa,” Mr Attafuah said.

He added that the project would position KIA as the lead airport in the sub-region saying that “it feeds into the government’s vision of making KIA the aviation hub in the West African sub-region.”

Mr Attafuah said Ghana’s resolve to attract more airlines to operate from Ghana was one of the reasons which had led to the recent organisation of the Route 12 conference in Accra.

“We should be able to develop new routes to new destinations. We are currently looking at attracting investments from China and South America,” Mr Attafuah disclosed.

Financing for the project was provided in part from a US$200 million loan provided by the African Development Bank, the Development Bank of South Africa and the Ghana Infrastructure Fund with a 15-year tenor and in part from part of a US$200 million syndicated commercial loan provided by a consortium of local and foreign banks led by Ecobank Ghana Limited.

The loans were provided to GACL without any support or Ghana government guarantee and it was for a wider infrastructural agenda of GACL, which includes the expansion and upgrade of other parts of the KIA, as well as the rehabilitation and upgrade of other airports around the country and the development of new ones, notably the Ho Airport in the Volta Region.

The Manager in charge of Information Technology at the new terminal and also in charge of IT at the Airport Company of South Africa (ACSA), Mr Vishalan Govender, said that unlike the old terminals, the new Terminal 3 had been fully computerised.

“We have fully moved from the traditional manual processing of passengers to electronic platforms. This is a great mind shift from functionality and operability of the procedures at the airport.”

In terms of passenger throughput, Kotoka handled just 1,667,675 international passengers at the end of 2015. According to statistics from the Ghana Airport Company Limited this figure is 17,155 higher than that of 2014.

The 2015 figure increased to 1,975,803 in 2018 and according to statistics from GACL, as of the first two quarters of 2019, a total of 980,811, comprising 481,459 for arrivals and 499,352 for departures were the number of passengers who used the KIA for international travel.

Total freight which was 59,510 tonnes in 2007 decreased to 52,390 in 2018 and as of the first two quarters of 2019 had reached 12,396,240 tonnes.Passengers who used domestic flights for travel were 10,091in 2011. This number peaked to 18,497 in 2013 but has since plummeted and was 10,140 comprising an equal number of 5,070 for both departures and arrivals in 2018. The first two quarters of 2019 show 8,208 as the number of passengers who used local flights and if the trend continues then the 2018 figure may be surpassed by year end.

Ghana Airlines faces challenges

The low level of domestic air travel is not surprising, as many airlines that have ventured into the domestic market have folded up largely due to increase in the cost of operation which is difficult to pass on to the passenger who cannot afford high fares.
The Fly 540, Starbow, Citi Link and Antrak airlines that flew passengers across the country in 2013 which accounted for the highest local passenger throughput in the country are no longer airborne. The only airlines in the air now are Africa World Airlines (AWA) and Passion Air.

AWA, the oldest of the two has stayed in the skies since 2012, most probably due to its partnership with China’s HNA Group, the China-Africa Development Fund, Ghana Social Security and National Insurance Trust and the Ghana Strategic African Securities signed at the Fourth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on July 19, 2012.

The AWA partnership is not only the first practical investment made by HNA Group in Africa, but also the first aviation investment made by a Chinese enterprise in Africa.  

Ghana has one major international airport and four domestic airports. The Kotoka International Airport in Accra, the Kumasi, Tamale,

Takoradi and Wa airports. Sunyani in the Bono Region also has an airstrip.

To further improve air travel in Ghana, the current Akufo-Addo-led government has pledged to upgrade existing airport facilities in the other regions and build new ones where they do not exist at all.

The Kumasi (Ashanti) and Tamale (Northern) aerodromes have been upgraded to international airports, although Kotoka in Accra continues to receive international flights. The Tamale Airport has so far only been used to airlift Muslim pilgrims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Recently on October 15, 2019, the Wa airstrip which has been upgraded to an airport was opened to commercial flights with one of only two domestic airlines currently flying, AWA, landing its Embraer 145 for the first commercial flight after the commissioning.

Since October 2018, the government has been considering the construction of commercial airports in the Central, Western and Upper

East regions, Ghana’s Minister of Aviation, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, announced.
He also announced that the government was negotiating with domestic airlines to begin using the idle airport in Ho in the Volta Region while work on phase two of the Kumasi and the Tamale airports was underway.

To ensure that those airports were fully utilised, Mr Adda said, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCCA), had been directed to put in place measures that would enable new local airlines that had applied for licences start operations.

Ghana’s challenge has not only been with the operation of local airlines. Although the government of Ghana has received commendations globally and many awards for ensuring safety in air travel across its airspace and providing world standard equipment and facilities at its major international airport – Kotoka, the establishment of a national airline as pertained in the era of Ghana Airways has continued to be difficult.

The government’s latest attempt to establish a sustainable and profitable airline is the third since independence following the demise of the erstwhile Ghana Airways and Ghana International Airlines.

Founded in 1958, Ghana Airways was for decades the national airline, with KIA as its hub. However, the airline which was ridden with debt, ceased operations in 2004. Attempts were made to revive its fortunes, but to no avail and in June 2005 it was liquidated.

With the support of private investors, Ghana International Airlines (GIA) was established in 2004 after Ghana Airways collapsed. The airline faced difficulties and eventually suspended its operations in May 2010.

Undaunted, the government of Ghana has proposed a new arrangement, in which it is seeking a carried interest and a partner with experience in running an international carrier.

“As a government we are going ahead with the arrangement, because we know the importance of establishing the airline for our objective of establishing KIA as an aviation hub,” the Chief Director of Ghana’s Ministry of Transport, Mr Twumasi Ankrah-Selby said.
Speaking at the sixth annual general meeting of GACL in Accra on October 10, 2018, Mr Adda said plans were advanced for the establishment of a home-based carrier, with private sector participation, to fly the Ghana flag.

Indeed, earlier in 2016 the government of Ghana invited international airlines which were interested in forging a strategic partnership to establish a home-based national carrier in Accra. Ethiopian Airlines, Air Mauritius and indigenous carrier Africa World Airline presented their expression of interest to the Ghanaian Ministry of Transport.

After a year-long evaluation by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Aviation and Ghana Airports, the Ministry of Transport announced its selection of Ethiopian Airlines as the preferred airline for the strategic partnership for the establishment of the new national airline of Ghana.

The airline and the Ghana government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in December 2018 and finalised the agreement in May this year towards the establishment of the home-based airline Ghanaian airline.

Ethiopian Airlines has already established a regional hub in Lomé, Togo and Lilongwe, Malawi and has partnered the governments of Zambia, Chad and Guinea to establish new airlines. Ethiopian Mozambique, a new home-based airline established by Ethiopian in Mozambique, started operation on December 1, 2018.

For the airline that is expected to be airborne by the end of 2019 or early 2020, the government of Ghana will have a ten per cent stake while private investors from Ghana will have a minimum of 41 per cent stake and Ethiopian Airlines 49 per cent, in the Joint Venture Company. Investment firms from other West African countries may also invest in the new venture which will involve operating domestic, regional and international flights.

Single African Air Transport Market

Ghana is not alone in its push for aviation space. West African neighbour as well other countries in the entire Africa region are also struggling to stay in the skies and connect seamlessly with other countries.

At the moment it is easier to connect to countries in Europe and the Americas than connecting to other African countries by air. A traveler in some instances has to even connect a flight to another African country from a European country.

It is to help remove the barriers to air travel and further promote integration on the African continent that the African Union established and launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) during its 30th Ordinary Summit of the African Union Assembly of Heads of States and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from January 28 to 29, 2018.

The SAATM, which is the AU’s Agenda 2063 flagship project is an initiative that fully promotes the free exercise of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth Freedoms of the Air. 

When the SAATM is fully operational, an “eligible” airline or air carrier from one African country can simply fly into another African country’s airspace and land on its territory using only a simple prior notification procedure.

So far, twenty-seven (28) countries are currently subscribed to the SAATM solemn commitment.

As of the eve of the 29th Assembly in June 2017, 21 Member States had signed the solemn commitment to be part of SAATM but by July 31, 2019 the number had increased to 28. The countries are Benin, Botswana, Capo Verde, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe.

Others are Gambia, Niger, Lesotho, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad and Cameroon.

Benefits

The SAATM will among others ensure the continuous improvement in Safety and Security, regulatory and policy harmonization, optimised infrastructure for both ground and air and the ease of intra-African mobility via Visas/customs.
It also seeks to reduce taxes and charges to enhance competitiveness, enhance human capacity development, multi-sector collaboration and remove nonphysical barriers to the market.

A similar cost-benefit study among the five East African Committee (EAC) countries (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya) also provides evidence that complete liberalisation of air transport among the EAC Member States could result in an addition 46,320 jobs, US$202.1 million per annum gain in GDP, traffic increase by 46 per cent, fares reduction by nine per cent on average and increase in frequency by 41 per cent on average.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the 28 countries that have subscribed to SAATM, represent over 80 per cent of the existing aviation market in Africa.