Sean Mendis, an aviation expert and former CEO of Africa World Airlines (AWA) says government’s rejection of British Airways plans to operate its service from the London Gatwick Airport will be detrimental to the aviation sector.
Following the Ministry of Aviation rejection of a recent decision by the management of British Airways to operate the British Airways Ghana Services from the London Gatwick Airport starting June 2021, he noted that government should not be in a position of lording it over the airline.
Commenting on how the rejection of the plan by government could impact the aviation sector, Mr. Mendis reckons government should not also dictate “to private companies especially foreign private companies [on] how they should operate”.
“I think that sets a very dangerous precedent and its actually possibly going to discourage other airlines of being innovative or commencing service to Ghana if the terms of their service will face resistance from the government on the types of service they want to run”.
He further explained that the move by British Airways will bode well for the Ghanaian passenger, describing it as strategic.
“From a consumer perspective it actually might be a positive [thing] for Ghanaian consumers. It’s certainly a big deal for British Airways because they are making a very strategic move over here- where they are shifting their focus for Ghana operations away from transit passengers, rather towards passengers between Ghana and the UK, and that is why I actually believe it could be a positive thing for Ghanaian travellers”.
He further explained that, British Airways traffic to and from Ghana has only been around 50% of that traffic at most and as a result for some years it’s been lower travelling between Accra and London.
“British Airways has struggled to compete head to head in this Accra to London market mainly because the market is very price sensitive; a lot passengers travelling from Ghana and Ghanaians in the UK will choose the lowest price options.
“So they’ve struggled there and they have had a market share that is 10% lower than you’d expect it to be since they’re the only nonstop operator. As a result, if they’ve been able to move the service to Gatwick, their significantly lower passenger taxes at Gatwick… their lower operating cost at Gatwick… could result in lower fares.
“So, this can actually be a positive for passengers in respect of service between Accra and London”.
Until recently, all London-Accra-London bound British Airways flights originated and terminated at the London Heathrow Airport.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Aviation on Tuesday, 19th January 2021, it had recently received a letter from the management of British Airways announcing that from June this year, it will be moving its operation of British Airways Ghana Services from the London Heathrow Airport to London Gatwick Airport.
This development, the Aviation Ministry said it rejected and subsequently communicated its displeasure about the way the decision was being taken without due consultation with the Ghanaian authorities.
In the press release, the Ministry of Aviation assured the general public that the Government of Ghana does not support the stance of British Airways and is engaging with the management to rescind their decision.
It will be recalled that back in 2017, former Aviation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah echoed the alleged poor service to Ghanaian passengers by British Airways, and committed to having the concerns, which allegedly included at the time, severe delays, lack of permanent stands, bad customer service, old aircraft and severely understaffed teams as well as demands to use terminal 5 instead of terminal 3 at the London Heathrow Airport, dealt with.
