Domestic flights within Ghana’s airports have resumed operations. This follows an intervention by a government delegation led by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah on Saturday.
Workers of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) had threatened to lay down their tools on Saturday to protest the size of the parcel of land offered them for the installation of aviation equipment, which they say is small.
Citi Business News understands that although the meeting between the government delegation and the leadership of the GCAA ended inconclusively, the workers have agreed to resume work to allow for the domestic airlines to fly. The staff union has also been asked to report to the Flagstaff House on Monday, July 11 for the matter to be settled amicably.
Domestic flights grounded
All domestic flights in the country were grounded on Saturday morning due to a strike by the workers of the GGCAA. Citi Business News gathered that a visit to the site by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on Friday concluded with an offer of 20 acres out of a total of 640 acres of land belonging to the Authority.
But the workers’ union insist the offer is inadequate hence their decision to halt services to the domestic unit of the Kotoka International Airport. Per the directive, only emergency and military flights of the domestic unit of the airport will be attended to.
The workers earlier on Friday suspended this action but reverted to it after the said meeting with the sector Minister for the Lands and Natural Resources ministry ended with dissatisfaction.
The workers have warned of some dire consequences on air safety and possible cases of judgment debts for the Authority or government should Ghana fail to install equipment worth over 600,000 Euros.
GCAA allays fears over threats to air safety
Despite the insistence of the staff of the GCAA, management of the Authority allayed fears of a threat to air safety. The Director General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey, earlier this week assured that his outfit will continually engage the Ministry of Transport to find a lasting solution to the development.
“The Management of the Authority and the Ministry of Transport are liaising with the relevant departments to have lands restored to the GCAA. Management is also engaging with the workers and we have appealed to them to exercise constraint,” he observed.
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