Ghanair in Strange Divestiture Deal

The Inflight Services Unit of the Ghana Airways (Ghanair) which used to provide drinkables to the airline's customers on board has been divested in a strange circumstances, Chronicle has learnt.

The deal, which was reached between the new management task-force of the Ghanair, headed by Captain Kofi Kwakwa, came as a surprise at a time when the workers of the troubled airline were crying foul over lack of transparency that characterised the divestiture of other units of the airline by the past management of the company.

On December 11, last year the Chairman of the Management Taskforce of the Ghanair, Capt. Kwakwa, entered into an agreement with Global Inflight Services (GIS), a company alleged to be based in USA, and off-loaded the Inflight Services Unit of the Ghanair to it.

The divestiture of the Inflight Services Unit to GIS has trigged off a lot of suspicion since, according to the insiders, the deal was reached without regard to laid-down rules, such as opening it to tender or bidding, Chronicle learnt.

Captain Kwakwa saw nothing wrong with the deal when Chronicle reached him last Wednesday afternoon to react to the concerns of the public.

He did not take it easy as he accused the paper for what he called its cock-and-bull stories about the airline, particularly the engines saga.

He stated that he had earlier on told the workers of the company in one of their durbars his intention to off-load the inflight services unit.

Therefore, he did not see why anybody should raise a finger about the deal.

Another issue that beat the imagination of insiders is that even though Kwakwa and his team had handed over the unit to GIS, the latter has turned round and engaged Ghanair crew to sell the drinkable items on board flights for a commission.

Chronicle gathered that under the agreement GIS pays five percent as commission to the Ghanair's crew for their service, with 15 percent going to the Ghana Airways for allowing GIS to sell on board the company's aircraft.

What is also not clear is that even though GIS is now in total control of the inflight service unit, the company uses the name of Ghanair to import all its drinkable products and therefore ends up not paying a dime as duty to the nation for all the liquor products it imports for sale.

Before the emergence of the GIS, Ghanair used to enjoy duty free for all the drinkable products it imported into the country.

This was because the products were used for 'free' service to the airline's customers.

It was not for sale as being practised now. With the new development of selling inflight products if care is not taken it is likely that Ghanair would end up losing even its loyal customers, a worker cautioned.

There was a nasty a scene on a Ghanair GH 711 London-Accra flight in March, this year when some passengers openly expressed their indignation when they were asked to part with money for the inflight services they were offered, Chronicle can reveal.

When Chronicle reached a certain Lonnie, a top management member of GIS, to find out whether his company won the deal through a fair bidding, he refused to speak and hung up his cell phone.