Ghana's government has been urged to bring back local carrier, ANTRAK by rescuing the airline from its woes and to ensure that all other domestic or local airlines are given the necessary and needed support to enable them thrive, remain viable and profitable.
Chief Executive officer of Goldstar Airlines, Mr. Eric Bannerman says the direct intervention of the state will encourage local operators and would-be-operators to favourably compete with the foreign airlines and will create the attendant jobs that come with the operations of such airlines.
Some Domestic airlines in the recent past have had to fold up following what they say is the expensive nature of operating in the country with the recent one being ANTRAK AIR which folded up its operations in the country about a month ago.
This scenario, according Mr. Bannerman, does not augur well for the industry and that the earlier government put in place measures to deal with the trend in which foreign airlines operate at the detriment and disadvantage of local airlines, the better it will be for the industry, adding that such practices must be discouraged.
Mr. Bannerman wondered why for instance, South African Airways would be allocated the Washington route when his own airline, GOLDSTAR applied for the same route and was refused, adding that it was standard practice in most developed economies including the United Kingdom and the United States of America to prioritise airlines registered in those countries and rush to their aid when they fall into crisis.
The GOLDSTAR AIRLINES CEO also took a swipe at the technical staff of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority whom he accused of not doing their work well leading to the downgrade of Ghana from category 1 to category 2, noting that such actions tend to affect the nation thereby making its routes unattractive on the global stage.
According to him, the technical staff at the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority must work at promoting local and indigenous airlines rather than work against them, adding that for starters, all the foreign airlines must be taken off the West Coast routes and that such foreign airlines should be prevented from picking passengers from Accra to the West Coast Route.
He quoted a senior staff of the technical division at the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority who has come out to indicate that local airlines are not being issued with charter licenses to operate as a result of failure to put in place the Cape Town Convention in 2006 and wondered why even 9 to 10 years down the line the status quo has remained.
Antrak Air is a Ghanaian scheduled airline based in the Airport Residential Area of Accra, Ghana.It started operations in September 2003 and operates scheduled domestic, regional and international services, as well as charter services in West Africa. Its main base is at Kotoka International Airport, Accra.
The company suspended all operations in May 2012 following a fire on board its only aircraft. The company resumed its domestic flights on 6 August after being grounded for about two months.
Antrak Air operated the following scheduled services at April 2012:
Ghana
Accra - Kotoka International Airport
- Kumasi - Kumasi Airport
- Tamale - Tamale Airport
- Sunyani - Sunyani Airport
- Takoradi - Takoradi Airport
Antrak Air was a designated carrier of Ghana to numerous countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
In September 2011, Antrak Air filed a legal challenge seeking an injunction to suspend operations of new competitor Starbow Airlines.
The Antrak Air fleet consists of the following aircraft as of July 2012 :
1 ATR 42 (cargo)
3 ATR 72 (leased from Swiftair)
On 22 May 2012, an Antrak Air ATR42 flying from Tamale to Accra with 33 passengers and four crew caught fire on departure from Tamale Airport. Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft and no fatalities were reported.[
In April 2007, a similar engine fire occurred on the right engine of the ATR-42 with registration number 9G-ANT. This flight was operating the last evening flight from Kumasi to Accra with over 30 passengers. The aircraft landed safely with one engine (left engine) in Accra.
Founded: September 2003
Hubs : Kotoka International Airport
Fleet size: 4
Destinations: 5
Headquarters: Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
Key people : Alhaji Asoma Banda, Fadel Banda, William Asare
Website : www.antrakair.com
Antrak Air on their website say "we have suspended our flight operations for the next 3 months effective june 10th 2015"
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