Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey, the Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited, has called for an urgent review of the GHC 5 Airport Passenger Service Charge (APSC) per passenger for domestic air travel.
She said the current domestic Airport Passenger Service Charge was fixed at GHC 5 in 2010 and had since not been reviewed.
Mrs Djamson-Tettey made the call when speaking as a panelist at the 4th AviationGhana Stakeholders Meeting, held in Accra on the theme: “Post Covid-19 Recovery Process and the Journey Ahead.”
The AviationGhana Stakeholders Breakfast Meeting organised by AviationGhana.com is an annual event that brings together all major stakeholders in the aviation sector and policymakers to deliberate on key issues within the industry.
She told participants that it had become critical to review the charge considering operational costs of running the newly-renovated domestic airports in the country.
She said for 2022, the GHC 5 charged to each domestic passenger for the use of on-ground aviation infrastructure, yielded just under GHC 4.3 million cedis.
The Managing Director said the amount, which translated into a little under GHC 360,000 per month, remained inadequate in the maintenance of Kumasi, Sunyani, Wa, Ho, Tamale airports and Terminal 2 of the Kotoka International Airport in Accra used for domestic operations.
She said typically, for the existing regional airport such as the Tamale Airport, the major expenditure lines, electricity and water supply, maintenance of lighting equipment, air conditioning, janitorial services, waste disposal, maintenance of the terminal building, and other overhead costs was close to a million cedis per month.
Mrs Djamson-Tettey cautioned that with the upgrade of Tamale and Kumasi Airports to International status, it would be difficult to manage the running costs including utilities, maintenance of the Aeronautical Ground Lighting Systems and other equipment, if an urgent review was not done.
Touching on the theme: “Post Covid Recovery Process and the Journey Ahead’’, she indicated that the Post-Covid recovery had been gradual but encouraged passenger throughput, especially on the domestic front.
She said the post-pandemic traffic on the domestic routes namely Kumasi, Wa, Sunyani and Tamale rose astronomically to 852,101 passengers in 2022 compared to the pre – pandemic figure of 690,314 passengers in 2019.
This, she indicated, was testament to the strong recovery within the sector and therefore called for a concerted effort by all industry players to consolidate the gains made.
Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, charged airlines operating into Ghana to prioritise superior customer service, safety and reliability in their operations.
He commended the resilience of all stakeholders during the pandemic and assured of the Ministry’s support where possible.
Other speakers at the breakfast meeting were Dr. Samson Fatokun, Head of Account Management and Area Manager, West & Central Africa; IATA, Mr Daniel Acquah, Deputy Director-General (Technical), Ghana Civil Aviation Authority; Mr. J. N. Halm, Customer Service Expert, Chief Content Officer, Service and Experience; and Samuel Ato Hagan, Managing Director of PassionAir.
