Accra — Ghana plans to establish a separate air navigation service provider as part of initiatives to modernize its aviation sector, improve the environment for efficient airline operations and in response to global trends, the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Collins Dauda said on Friday, 21st October in Accra.
In a keynote address to an experts' meeting on the development of a viable airline industry for West Africa, the minister said the separation which is "planned for the near future" was part of "several initiatives to modernize the sector" which were launched in 1997 under the Gateway Project. Following the project launch, the minister who was represented by the Deputy Minster, Mrs. Dzifa Attivor, said the regulatory functions were decoupled from airports management in 2007 resulting in the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority operating as an industry regulator while the airports were managed by the Ghana Airports Company.
The minister said the changes were in response to the changing need of users and the environment under which airlines operate as well as the dramatic changes experienced globally by the aviation industry and to enable the industry to meet new economic, social and environmental challenges. As further evidence of these changes, he said extensive physical works were ongoing at the country's international and domestic airports to bring them to international standards.
The minister used the opportunity to allay the "fears and phobias that seem to prevail in some circles" about the consequences of the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision of 1988 on the air transport sector in Africa. He canvassed full implementation of the Decision so the region could benefit from its provisions. In his speech, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Mr. Celestin Talaki challenged West African airlines to build synergies to avail themselves of the benefits of liberalization and globalization and overcome the challenges militating against their operations.
The Commissioner said this was consistent with the global trend, citing the demise of some national airlines and the multinational Air Afrique as well as the consolidation of airlines in Europe, Asia and America as justification for such a change. In encouraging synergies, the Commissioner said the ECOWAS Commission was motivated by the 2009 Decision of Heads of State and Government that called for the institutionalization of the annual meeting of chief executives of civil aviation authorities and airline companies as a platform to develop durable solutions to the problems confronting the sector. In this regard, he said the ECOWAS Commission had organized two meetings, the first in Accra in 2009 followed by the second in 2011 in Lome both of which agreed a plan of action and mechanism for cooperation among regional airlines.
The high-level Accra meeting, which is reviewing presentations and relevant reports, is a follow up to the June 2011 meeting in Abuja. Representatives of airlines from Member States, civil aviation authorities, airport managers and experts from within and outside the region are participating in the two-day gathering which will make recommendations to the 24th October 2011 meeting of Ministers of Transport also to be held in Accra.
