Our pilots not on strike; we’re flying – Antrak Air

Antrak Air has said its pilots are not on strike contrary to claims by some of its passengers on Thursday night.

The Commercial Director of Antrak Mr Richard Kwabena Kyereh also clarified to StarrFMonline.com that none of the local airline’s planes has also been grounded.

According to him, a technical decision by one of its Captains not to fly on Thursday night from the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, owing to a dysfunctional navigation equipment at the Kumasi Airport, is what was misconstrued by passengers as a strike by the pilots.

Mr Kyereh explained that the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has promised to fix the faulty navigation equipment but that is yet to be done.

He said as a result of the problem at the Kumasi Airport, flying there at night is at the discretion of the Captain on duty.

“Without the instrument, at late hours; at night there is no way you can land,” Mr Kyereh explained, emphasising that in such situations, “it is at the discretion of the pilot to decide whether to fly or not.”

According to him, the Captain on duty for Thursday’s flight from Accra to Kumasi initially agreed to fly with a caveat: fly back to Accra, without landing in Kumasi, if he got to the Garden City and was unable to locate the airport due to the dysfunctional navigation equipment at the Airport.

But after making further enquiries from Kumasi, the Captain, Mr Kyereh explained, decided against flying at all, and then asked the passengers to disembark, a situation, which, according to him, was misunderstood by the passengers as a sudden declaration of strike.