Minister for Aviation, Joseph Kofi Kowe Adda, has said the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) has recorded a revenue shortfall of over GH¢500 million since the closure of the country’s air borders in March, 2020.

Ghana has re-opened the Kotoka International Airport to international passenger traffic, after five months of closure.

The airport was closed to international passenger traffic as part of restrictions to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

Speaking on PM Express on Monday, Aviation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda said over half a billion cedis has been lost due to coronavirus induced airport shut.

“We lost over 500 million cedis since we shut the operations of the airport. Counting all the passengers who would have paid their air service charge, counting from all the airlines who would have paid landing fees etc, all that accumulated is a significant amount of money.”

Government is seeking to boost the aviation sector with some $3 billion to expand infrastructure in airports.

The investment, according to the aviation minister will also create major employment avenues in the aviation sector.

“It is billions of dollars. It all depends on the areas that they pick. But if you look at it cumulatively, we are talking about between two to three billion dollars if we are really going to make Ghana an aviation hub…but it will take time and we don’t have the money,” the minister explained.

Making Ghana a regional and international aviation hub was one of President Akufo- Addo’s objectives upon taking office in 2017.

There has been much progress as the Kotoka International Airport in Accra was ranked number one in 2019 for airports receiving between 2 million and 5 million passengers by the Airports Council International, winning the Airport Service Quality Award.

Beyond the $275 million investment in Kotoka Airport, the Kumasi, Tamale, and Sunyani airports are also benefiting from major improvements to infrastructure.