Patronage of domestic flights within Ghana in 2017 has showed an improvement of 483,261 compared to the previous year’s movement of 421,986, a 14.5 percent increase.
Speaking at the 6TH Annual General Meeting of Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) on Tuesday in Accra, the Managing Director of GACL, John Dekyem Attafuah explained that the increase was as a result of the removal of Value-Added Tax (VAT) component from domestic air fares in the first quarter of 2017.
Attafuah added that promotional fares introduced by some airlines in 2017, further enhanced passenger numbers.
The total passenger throughput showed an improvement of 5.3 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, growing from 2,381,917 in 2016 to 2,509,339.
Aircraft Movements
Air traffic movement for 2017 also showed an improvement of 39,217 compared to the previous year’s movement of 36, 354, representing a 7.9 percent increase.
Attafuah described the growth as a result of increased international and domestic movements in 2017, adding, “the entry of Air France and Mid Africa, and the extended route network of African World Airlines (AWA) as well as increased flight frequencies of Brussels Airlines, Tap Portugal and other non-scheduled operators boosted international movements.”
On the domestic front, he said the increased flights by African World Airlines contributed to gains reported.
Freight
Tonnage of goods transported through Kotoka international airport (KIA) in 2017 was 50,360 as compared to 47, 677 in 2016. The growth of 5.6 percent was influenced by the improvements in non-traditional exports.
Operating Results
On the operations of GACL, Attafuah indicated that there was a steady progress towards its goals, as it reported strong results under challenging conditions for 2017.
GACL has two categories of revenue, namely Aeronautical and Non-Aeronautical revenue. The total revenue increase by 21 percent to GHS 448 million from GHS 373 million in 2016.
The headline operating cost were up 64 percent to record GHS361 million compared to GHS 220 million in 2016.
“This is a reflection higher investment costs of business reorganization to achieve the transformation plan, sharp increase in utility and maintenance cost as well as the severe impact of currency depreciation on foreign currency denominated loans for the development airports in the country,” Attafuah explained.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
