Aviation Minister expresses concern about air accidents

Accra, Sept. 11, GNA - Africa has the highest number of aircraft accidents although air traffic density on the Continent is relatively low.

Stakeholders in the Aviation Industry on the Continent should, therefore, collaborate and utilize their skills and knowledge in safety oversight to help to change Africa's image as "the continent with the least safe skies'.

Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, Minister of Aviation, made these remarks at the opening of the Third Co-operative Development of Operational Safety and Continued Airworthiness Programme (COSCAP) Steering Committee and Plenary Meetings of the Banjul Accord Group (BAG) in Accra on Monday. She said this was important since a safe African airspace would naturally accelerate growth within the industry and lead to a reduction in the cost of doing business on the Continent.

The five-day meeting, which is being attended by 50 delegates form all member states, is being hosted by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Aviation.

Ms Akuffo told the participants that Ghana was committed to the earlier decisions and programmes of BAG as well as the decisions that would be reached at the meeting.

She said it was in acknowledgement of the immense role of the Aviation Industry in the development of Ghana that President John Agyekum Kufuor had for the first time in the country's history, set up a full Ministry of Aviation.

Ms Akuffo commended the Heads of African States, who came up with the Yamoussoukro Decision of 2000, which aims at encouraging cooperation among national carriers of member States with a view to integrating their operations into larger and more efficient entities.

She also commended the four West African States and nine airlines which met in Banjul in 1997 to establish the Banjul Accord Group for the purpose of mapping out strategies to accelerate the implementation of the Yamoussoukro decision and to generally enhance air transport safety in the West Africa Sub-Region.

In 1997, four West African States - Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria - together with nine airlines met in Banjul, The Gambia, to map out strategies for accelerating the implementation of the objectives of the Yamoussoukro Declaration as well as enhance safety within the Sub-Region. The group called itself the Banjul Accord Group. Current membership comprises Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Nii Adumansa-Baddoo, Acting Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), said apart from being the fastest and safest mode of transportation, air transport was also a key catalyst to national economic development.

"Indeed the air transport industry, if properly managed, can promote economic integration," he said.

Nii Adumansa-Baddoo observed that intra-African liberalization would create the appropriate environment for most pro-active carriers of the Continent to quickly extend their network and offer air services where they were missing.

He said the industry had grown in Ghana "impressively" over the last 12 months, registering annual growth rates of 17 per cent for both aircraft movements and passenger traffic and 11 per cent for freight traffic.

Nii Adumansa-Baddoo said with the setting up of COSCAP programme by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to assist the BAG States, the thorny issue of safety oversight capability of States was being "vigorously addressed".

He noted that through the Multilateral Air Services Agreement, the skies of member States had been significantly liberalized and continued to be liberalized.

=93This has undoubtedly helped to ease the hitherto inadequate availability of flights and flight connection opportunities within the Sub-Region."

Nii Adumansa-Baddoo cautioned that in implementing the COSCAP programm, it was important to note the accompanying challenges. "It is our hope that the establishment of sub-regional flight safety oversight organizations would address these challenges to enhance safety and security in the Sub-Region."