Harmattan grounds domestic airlines
The hazy harmattan weather that has engulfed the country for the past three days has compelled domestic airlines to suspend their flights.
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Some passengers who were scheduled to travel to Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi were stranded at the departure terminal at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), reports Severious Kale-Dery.
While some passengers resolved to wait until the haziness cleared, others resorted to travelling by road.
However, the international airlines were in full operation. While the Daily Graphic was at the Domestic Departure Hall, it was announced that an Emirate Airline flight had just landed.
At the Domestic Flight Departure Terminal Sunday morning, members of staff of the airlines who were on duty were virtually on holiday, as they had nothing doing, while some prospective passengers were seen either in front of the front desks of Africa World Airline or Starbow Airline enquiring about the next possible flight to their destinations.
Passengers were advised to “hang around”, so that in the event of change of weather and the green light given, they could be carried to their destinations.
Although the Daily Graphic was told that no manager was available to comment on the situation, information gathered revealed that there was no specific time for the resumption of flights.
Meanwhile, a senior meteorologist at the Ghana Meteorological Agency at the KIA, Tetteh Portuphy, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the sudden outburst of dry weather conditions in the southern part of the country was an indication of the onset of the harmattan season.
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He said the atmospheric haze and dryness was expected to increase in the coming days, explaining that the recent rains some parts of the country experienced were a clearing out of the last remnants of moisture that was left in the atmosphere to pave the way for the dry season.
From Kumasi, Daniel Kenu reports that aircraft at the Kumasi Airport have been grounded and will not be able to fly at least for the next three days because of the hazy harmattan weather.
Subsequently, the Accra-Kumasi highway has been jam-packed with vehicles, as commuters and businessmen and women who hitherto would have travelled by air have been compelled to use the road.
A meteorological officer at the Kumasi Airport, Isaac Taki Tetteh, told the Daily Graphic that the dust particles from the North-Eastern Trade Winds had reduced visibility, such that it made it difficult for pilots to see clearly.
Samuel Duodu & Zadok Kwame Gyesi report that the management of the Tamale Airport in the Northern Region has cancelled all domestic flights to prevent any unforeseen occurrence.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview, the Tamale Airport Manager, Mr Michael Omane Mensah, said the flights were cancelled due to unclear weather conditions.
According to him, the hazy harmattan weather had made visibility poor for flights to be in operation.
Airport officials
Mr Mensah explained that visibility had dropped from between 3,000 and 4,000 metres to 400 and 800 metres, thereby making it difficult for aircraft to fly.
He said the Tamale Airport would be in operation anytime the weather conditions changed for clear visibility.
Public transport
When the Daily Graphic visited some transport terminals, passengers who had been disappointed by the airlines as a result of bad weather conditions had resorted to the use of public means of road transport to get to their destinations.
Recall
As a result of the bad weather conditions, the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, could not fly to Tamale last Friday to grace the National Farmers Day held in Bolgatanga.
Around the same time last year, poor visibility prevented flights from landing at or taking off from the Tamale Airport.
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In a related development, domestic commercial aircraft and helicopters providing crew-change services to support offshore oil and gas activities are counting their losses in Sekondi/Takoradi because of bad weather and lack of modern navigation instrumentation system in Takoradi, Tamale and Kumasi, reports Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu from Sekondi/Takoradi.
As a result, civilian commercial aircraft services have since been grounded, at a huge cost to the operators domestically.
The Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, Mr Eric James Antwi, explained in an interview that even though the aircraft were not operating, there were “fixed costs, such as the salary of workers, ground and other works that must be attended to”.
Oil & Gas helicopter support services
Aside from domestic commercial airlines, others heavily affected are operators in the oil and gas industry, as the helicopters that fly daily to and from offshore oil and gas installations have also been grounded.
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The operators told the Daily Graphic that they would incur a huge cost, as they had to deploy boats for crew change if the weather remained the same for the next couple of days.
Public reaction
Some members of the public have reacted differently to the setting in of the harmattan.
For Hajia Zenabu Issah, a media practitioner, it is an opportunity to sleep soundly even when there is dumsor.
“Prior to the setting in of the harmattan, the weather was unbearable. It used to be so hot that I used to fan myself before I could sleep. But now ECG can take its lights,” she said.
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A private school teacher, Mr James Kpimeh-Beyuo, said he was used to such a weather and did not see anything wrong with it, adding: “In my village in the north, this is nothing.”
However, a businesswoman, Aunty Mercy, was not happy with the weather because “apart from making getting out of bed difficult, you bath and by the time you move out of the bathroom to your bedroom your body is already dry”.