Domestic flights in Ghana are not affected by harmattan condition

Domestic airline operators in Ghana have said that flights have not been affected by the harsh Harmattan weather condition.

This is coming after the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) cautioned the public and airline operators of a possible distortion to air travel if the condition gets worse.

However, one of the domestic airline operators, Passion Air maintains told Accra-based Citi FM that they are yet to be affected by the harmattan.

The Sales and Marketing Manager for Passion Air, Samuel Razak Tachie they are still operating as the company’s daily flights to Tamale and Kumasi are still operational.

“We will encourage customers to keep traveling, their safety is rest assured. We will fly them to their destination. But the weather as it is is very unpredictable for instance this morning we had a weather forecast of visibility of 1,200 feet, it went up to 1,800 feet and suddenly shot up to 6,000 feet so there’s nothing much the operators can do we are subject to the weather conditions so we operate as and when the weather is permissible and is safe to fly.”

Harmattan is a very dry, dusty wind which blows towards the East of the West African coast almost every year. It is often expected to last for three months; from December to February.

This affects some economic activities including air travel due to its impact on visibility.

The GCAA cautioned airline operators and passengers of the distractions in their movement due to the harmattan. It added that it is working with stakeholders to ensure passengers are safe during the season.

Mr. Tachie sais that “We will only fly when conditions are right for us to fly and under no circumstances will we put the lives and safety of our customers at risk. And so if the weather permits us to fly, we will, otherwise we will have to find alternative means, whereby we will either put them on subsequent flights if the weather permits or we will reschedule it.”