A former Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Paul Adom-Otchere, has explained why the direct flight from London Gatwick to the Kumasi International Airport in December 2024 had to be delayed.

According to him, the company, during his tenure, wanted to test Kumasi Airport’s readiness for international flights.

Direct flight from Gatwick to Kumasi International Airport slated for December 3 cancelled

Adom-Otchere also attributed this to the campaign period and the promises often made by politicians, adding that there was pressure from them to demonstrate that the airport had truly been internationalised.

“It [flight] didn't [happen] because we wanted to demonstrate the internationalisation of the airport. It was a heated campaign period and there was a lot of conversations on the campaign. When a campaign happens, people say all kinds of things on the campaign… There was political pressure to demonstrate that the government had not deceived the people when it said that the airport is international,” he said on JoyNews on November 6, 2025.

Adom-Otchere further stated that before an airport can operate international flights, it requires a certain preparation period, insisting that the airport was indeed international.

“It would take a while for the policy of internationalisation of the airports to take roots, but the airport was international and there was political interest in demonstrating that the airport is international. It may not have started taking regular international flights, but when the Minister of Transport goes to Parliament and says that we have internationalised the Kumasi airport, he was right, and that needed to be demonstrated,” he stated.

Adom-Otchere, who is also a media personality, stated that they used Ethiopian Airlines for the demonstration to prevent people from questioning or doubting the then government.

Adom-Otchere also indicated that Ethiopian Airlines approved the airport as being ready to operate internationally after its aircraft landed there.

“That's the reason the plane was able to land, and that's why an important international brand like Ethiopian Airlines was used. There were conversations about using a chartered flight. Some people felt that a chartered flight would not make the point because there will be rebuttals.

“But if you use a regular international airline that agrees that I'm flying to an international airport based on the indications, based on the calculation, the indices, the size of the runway, the infrastructure at the airport, then you would have endorsed that it is an international airport so Ethiopian Airlines who conducted the flight agreed that it's ready for international flight and that was very important,” he concluded.

Background

GACL in November 2024 had announced that it had collaborated with Ethiopian Airlines to arrange direct flights from London Gatwick to the Kumasi Prempeh I International Airport.

From Promises to Pressure: Paul Adom-Otchere speaks on government's 'tough' reality

However, the flight’s launch originally set for December 3, 2024, was delayed, with the GACL attributing the postponement to short notice.

The flight arrived at a later date on December 6, 2024, becoming the first International flight to land at the Kumasi Prempeh I International Airport after it attained international status.

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