Aviation Minister markets hub concept to private sector

The Minister of Aviation, Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has asked for a strong collaboration between the government and private aviation service providers to help make Ghana an aviation hub in West Africa.

She explained that the hub concept involved making the country’s airspace the preferred destination of choice for both travellers and investors within the sub-region.

 “I, therefore, call for a greater collaboration among the various stakeholders in the aviation sector for our common good and for the socio-economic development of the country,” she said at the launch of the maiden aviation safety week celebration in Accra on November 29.

The week was set aside by the Aviation Safety Inspectors Association of Ghana (AVSIAG) to explore ways the association could work with the government to help improve aviation safety.

The two-day celebration, which was on the theme ‘Aviation Safety, the Relevance of the Inspector’, saw various stakeholders from the aviation industry and government officials in attendance.

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Commendation

Mrs Dapaah commended the AVSIAG for its continued maintenance of firm air safety in the country.

She said maintaining a team of well-trained and motivated aviation safety inspectors had contributed to the recording of zero incident of airline fatality in Africa over the past two years.

“Your hard work has also been reflected in the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) winning the 2017 safety award by the Airports Council International (ACI), Africa,” she added.

Initiatives

 Mrs Dapaah said the government, through the Ministry of Aviation, recognised the importance of safety as a determining factor for the success of the hub concept. As a result, she said the ministry had set up key priority areas and interventions that had impacted significantly on the growth of airline transport and passenger experience towards the realisation of the hub vision.

Among these, she said, was the construction of the third terminal at the KIA, which is designed to accommodate five million passengers over the next five years, as well as process over 1,000 passengers within an hour.

Additionally, she said, construction of a modern Air Navigation Services Centre was underway to ensure safety and security of aircraft and passengers in the country’s airspace.

The President of the AVSIAG, Mr Senam Atadja, also called for a stronger collaboration between regulators and players in the aviation industry.

The collaboration, he said, should lead to a stronger relationship that engaged stakeholders and helped to educate them on the roles of the various bodies in the sector.

He observed that globally, the relationship between the inspector and the inspected in the aviation business had not been perceived as cordial.

Mr Atadja said the AVSIAG sought to change this relationship in the country by establishing a framework that would create a friendly and productive atmosphere for engagement in the aviation industry.