Competition on the Accra –Lagos flight route has been intensified with an additional airline operating effective today (February 16, 2017).
The Nigerian owned Air Peace which operates an intra-city flight in Nigeria, has since extended its services to Accra due to the increased passenger volumes along the route.
The move also comes at a time that Ghana is positioning itself to become an aviation hub within the sub-region.
Speaking at the launch of the first flight to Accra, the Chief Operations Officer of Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide told Citi Business News its preference for Ghana is influenced by the potential in the country’s aviation sector.
“We chose Ghana because we believe Ghana is a gateway to Africa which has a lot of potential, we believe strongly in the people of Ghana and we believe that commencing from Ghana and eventually making it a hub for us will be a big reality,” she said.
Madam Olajide added, “For now we cannot say much about the cost of operation because so far the authorities have been so co-operative and but going along, we will.”
Air Peace will operate a daily seamless flight between Lagos and Accra.
It is expected to be in competition with other airlines operating inter-regional flights.
They include Africa World Airlines and Arik Air.
Some of the interventions that the new government intends to roll out include reducing cost of aviation fuel to ease the cost borne by airlines which eventually increase their air ticket fares.
Speaking at the same event, the Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Adekunbi Sonaike-Ayodeji was confident the operations of Air Peace will deepen Ghana’s trade and bilateral relations.
The Minister of Aviation, Cecelia Dapaah has stressed the need for Ghana to adopt strategies to tap into the 326 million and 1.2 million passenger volumes for ECOWAS and Africa respectively, recorded in 2016.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
