Passengers at Kumasi Airport made to walk in rain

Passengers who travelled through the Kumasi International Airport last Friday evening were subjected to a harrowing experience when they were made to walk through rains from the tarmac to the arrival hall.

The passengers, who arrived in a Starbow flight from Accra around 6:30pm at a time that it was raining, had to walk about 100 metres in the rain from the tarmac to the arrival hall with umbrellas provided by officials of the airline.

Other passengers who were booked for the return trip to Accra that night, also had to go through similar ordeal due to the unavailability of an airport shuttle bus at the Kumasi airport, which assumed international status,
practically, in December 2014.

Information gathered by TV3 suggest the airport which was recently given a facelift at the cost 29 million dollars, does not have an airport shuttle bus to transport passengers from the departure hall to the tarmac to board planes and vice versa.

TV3's Peter Addator who was among the passengers who had to go through that ordeal said the flight was scheduled to arrive at exactly 5:45pm Friday but delayed until 6:30pm at a time that it was raining.

"The flight eventually landed after 6.30pm with the rains still pouring. Starbow staffs then dashed for umbrellas to assist the passengers from the flight," he told TV3 Online.

"This aroused the curiosity of most passengers, including journalists, to begin filming the scene using their phones and other electronic gadgets. Starbow staffs resisted claiming we were targeting their airplane," Peter narrated.

He said officials of Starbow carried umbrellas to shield passengers from the rain as they disembarked and embarked; something that is uncharacteristic of an international airport worldwide.

According to Peter, officials of Starbow 'arrested' him and sent him to the Ghana Airport Company officials where he was detained for filming the incident which many passengers viewed as an embarrassment to the country.

He said the officials forced him to delete the shots scene he filmed but managed to keep some from them. Peter said the Police was called in to arrest him and that intervention from the delegation and other journalists to release him turn on deaf ears.

"No amount of protest backed by the refusal of other journalist, who have all refused to board the flight, was enough to get them to change their mind. It took a counter call to the Police headquarters to get the airport staff to back down on their intention to get him arrested by the police in Kumasi," Peter told TV3 Online.