The Ho Airport in the Volta Region of Ghana is set to commence commercial operations in April 2021.
African World Airlines is expected to run commercial flights between the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra and the Ho Airport.
Transport and Aviation Minister, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, revealed this on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, when he embarked on a familiarization tour of the Ho Airport.
The construction of the Ho Airport began under the former President John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress Government.
The Ho Airport was constructed by Amandi Holdings Limited and has 1,900 metres runway, traffic control tower, 1,150 capacity passenger waiting area, an ultramodern airbus terminal and an automatic fire detection system.
In 2018, the Airport project was completed and subsequently commissioned.
However, since 2018, the Airport has not been operational due to lack of airlines to fly to Ho which is few hours away from the national capital, Accra, by car and minutes away by air.
According to the Minister, African World Airlines will start flying to Ho by the middle of April 2021.
Mr Asiamah indicated that the $ 25 million Airport project had been abandoned since its completion because Ghana did not have a wholly-owned airline which could be compelled to fly the route.
As a result, he revealed that government and the Ghana Airport Company Limited had been in talks with private airlines and other stakeholders to operationalize the Ho Airport project.
He has therefore encouraged the Chiefs and people of Volta region and Ghana as a whole to patronise African World Airlines flights to Ho.
“We will come back to square one and the airport will have to close down on financial grounds,” he stated while urging Ghanaians to patronize African World Airlines, pointing out that unlike state-owned airlines, private airline operators were driven by profits and so there was the need to patronize the Ho Airport.
Furthermore, the Minister admonished the Chiefs and people of Ho to protect the airport lands from encroachment.
According to him, encroachment may stifle plans to expand the airport in the future.
The Minister cautioned that any person who attempted to build on airport lands anywhere in Ghana will have their building demolished.
Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company Limited, Yaw Kwakwa, revealed that the operationalisation became possible because of the collaboration and cooperation of all key stakeholders.
According to him, the company was hoping that the tourism sector will take advantage of the scheduled opening of the Airport to open up the region.
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