The Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of British Airways, Alex Cruz, is visiting Ghana on Sunday February 2nd 2020, but has no plan to meet and engage Ghanaian Aviation officials to address outstanding concerns about the Airline’s poor service and ill-treatment of Ghanaian travelers.
It would be recalled that in January 2018, the then Aviation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, lambasted the Airline which has operated in Ghana for decades, over poor treatment of Ghanaian passengers.
She told journalists the Airline was able to treat its Ghanaian passengers poorly because it has enjoyed direct flight from Ghana to the UK over the years, after reports of bedbugs on a British Airline bound to Accra from Heathrow.
The Airline’s response to the concerns was merely through an email, part of which stated that “the presence of bed bugs is an issue faced occasionally by hotels and airlines all over the world”.
The Minister, who was angered by their posture, warned that Ghanaian passengers will no longer tolerate bad treatment from the British Airline officials.
She complained about the fact that the airline had relocated Ghanaian flights from terminal five to terminal three causing Ghanaian passengers to walk for about an hour before boarding the aircraft.
“We know the benefits the airline derives from its Ghanaian passengers yet there is no social responsibility from them (British Airways) to Ghanaians,” she lamented.
Madam Dapaah also said the Ministry was concerned about why Ghanaian passengers were made to pay as much as 1, 300 pounds for its direct flights whereas neighbouring Nigeria pays only 900 pounds.
The Minister further cautioned officials of the Airline not to use rickety planes to convey Ghanaian passengers again.
“They should make sure all flights that are deemed to come to Ghana are all fumigated. If we ever see one bedbug or any untoward thing on their flight, we will take a drastic action. It should not have happened in the first place, and it should never happen again,” she stressed.
At the time, an on online petition urging Ghanaians to say no to British Airways garnered nearly 2,500 signatures, as travelers shared several unpleasant experiences.
As these concerns by Ghanaian authorities and passengers have not been fully addressed, one would have expected that the Airline’s CEO, who’s on an official trip to Ghana, would take advantage to engage Aviation officials as courtesy demands for diplomatic engagements to reassure Ghanaian passengers of their safety on BA flights.
Reason for visit
According to Citi Business News’ sources, Alex Cruz will arrive in Ghana on Sunday 2nd February 2020, and leave on the evening of Monday, 3rd February on a BA flight.
While Citi Business News is not privy to his full itinerary, our sources say he has no plan to engage Ghanaian aviation officials, and that his only stop is in Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, where he will lead British Airways’ local Non-Governmental Organization, Comic Relief, to make a donation to another local NGO, known as Mothers to Mothers.
BA’s difficulties
In September 2019, British Airways passengers globally expressed their anger at being unable to get through to the airline following a mishap over 2, 325 cancelled flights.
This was prior to a threat by BA pilots to strike over pay and conditions, after previous strikes had cost them millions of pounds daily.