Two Ghanair engines can't be traced

There are conflicting accounts as to the whereabouts of two Ghana Airways (Ghanair) aircraft engines that were airlifted out of the country as far back as 1999.

The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of two Aircraft DC-9 engines valued at $2million (more than ?16million) is a sad commentary about the management of the affairs of the troubled national air carrier over the years.

Chronicle investigations have established that in 1999, Ghanair headed by Mr. Emmanuel Quartey Jnr., whisked the engines off to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the pretext that they were being sent out for servicing at the Technical Division of Ethiopia Airlines.

In spite of the claim by Ghanair Management that the engines were sent out to Ethiopia for servicing, Chronicle has learnt that the two engines were rather sold to A. J. Walters Flyer, a UK-based company, which has a reputation for locating aircraft parts in every corner of the world for sale.

Mr. J.E.M. Brown, a member of the Management Task Force (MTF) and the then Deputy Head of Engineering, who was charged by Quartey Jnr., the former CEO of the national air courier, to deal with the two engines, gave variable accounts of the engines when he spoke to Chronicle on two different occasions last year.

When Chronicle contacted Brown last year over the whereabouts of the engines, he claimed that the engines were sent out for servicing and had since been brought back.

On another occasion, Chronicle heard a different account as to the whereabouts of the engines.

More confusion was in the account by another top former management member of the Quartey administration, (name withheld) who told the Chronicle that they swapped the engines with some spare parts from A.J. Walters Flyer.

When he was asked to list the number of spare parts that he claimed the engines were exchanged for, he was not forthcoming.

Chronicle has established that in early 1999, A.J. Walters Flyer, acting upon a request by an airline which was in dire need of a DC-9 engine, approached Ghanair, looking for a DC-9 engine to purchase.

Upon enquiries, Ghanair agreed to off-load one of its engines to Walters Flyer for sale, but the deal was kept away from the staff.

On January 6, 1999, a DC- 9 engine number 688749 with part (identity) number JT 8D -17 and weighing 2446 kilos with $1 million price tag, was flown to Bole International Airport in Ethiopia for "servicing" that later ended up in the custody of Walters Flyer.

Chronicle gathered that after the engine had been flown out, it was detected that that particular engine did not fit into the specification of the DC9 engine they were looking for.

When the first engine did not meet the specification, Ghanair, therefore, flew out another DC-9 engine as replacement.

The second engine, with number 654829 in identity or part number JT8D-17, was airlifted from Accra on February 11, 1999, through Ethiopia to Walters Flyer. That engine also had a price tag of $1million and weighed 2446 kilos.

What has still remained a mystery is that if the engines were sold out, where are the proceeds?

And if they were swapped as one of the past top management member told the Chronicle, then it would interest Ghanaians to know the kind of spare parts that the engines were exchanged for.

Currently one of the DC-9s purchased by Ghanair from Venezuela is sitting at Naples, Italy.

This aircraft found its way into Italy because it was in a very deplorable state before it was purchased.

As a result of its terrible state, it was rushed to Italy for corrosion works shortly but lack of funds has kept it in Naples and the information available to Chronicle indicates that demurrage cost alone swelled to millions.