Total international air traffic for Ghana via the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) should exceed 2.1 million people by the end of 2022, as a result of the latest easing of measures announced at the airport by President Akuffo-Addo on March 27, 2022.
This is according to Aviation Analyst Sean Mendes.
According to the President, fully vaccinated persons arriving at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) will no longer present a negative PCR COVID-19 test from the country of embarkation. Such travelers, according to the President, will also not be tested on arrival.
Those who have not been fully vaccinated will, however, have to provide a negative PCR COVID-19 test in addition to an antigen test.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the new measures, Sean Mendes, was confident that lost traffic to Ghana in the last year will be recovered.
“We saw that the total air traffic in Ghana in 2021 was 2.1 million as against an all-time high of 3 million in 2019. We expect that the figure for 2022 will be an improvement on what was recorded in 2021. But it won’t recover entirely to 2019 levels until 2023 or probably more likely 2024. Certainly taking steps towards allowing fully vaccinated passengers easy access to Ghana will definitely serve to recover a big chunk of the traffic that has been lost to Ghana in the past few years.”
He also urged government to vigorously monitor developments at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) following the significant reviews to the stringent COVID-19 restrictions introduced at the airport. According to him care must be taken to ensure that improved fortunes for the Aviation and tourism sectors are not prioritized over public health.
“For now I think the measures taken are good steps in the right direction. I’m sure the public health people will be constantly looking at the new measures, reviewing them and making sure that neither too much or too little is being done to boost the industry as well as to ensure that the public health goals are being met.”
