Government’s partnership with EgyptAir for the creation of a new national airline has faced fresh opposition from the Ghana Institute of Engineering (GIE).
According to Leslie Alex Aryeh, President of the Institute, government should have gone into partnership with investors rather than an airline which will be a rival to the national carrier.
Speaking to the media on the issue, Mr Aryeh cited conflict of interests on the part of EgyptAir as one of the reasons for describing government’s decision to partner EgyptAir as a wrong one.
“You don’t go into partnership with your rival, I would prefer that we have some investors coming in rather than partnering EgyptAir because when decisions are to be made in the long run when it comes to the hub, they will want it in their country and that way it could strike matters of interest. I would have preferred we invited business people rather than an airline,” he stated.
The Government of Ghana (GoG) and Cairo-based EgyptAir on Wednesday, October 21, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of a new national airline.
The selection of EgyptAir as Ghana’s partner for the launch of the new home-based carrier followed series of engagement with the senior management team of the airline and a committee of aviation experts constituted by the then Aviation Ministry.
Ethiopian Airlines was previously selected to be GoG’s strategic partner in establishing a new national airline, but due to lack of agreement over key issues such as routes, funding, tenure of the management contract among others, led to the airline being dropped as Government’s strategic partner for a new home-based carrier.
EgyptAir, according tosources, offered a better deal in terms of funding for the new airline, routes, fleet and personnel– with Ghanaians expected to play key roles in the new entity once it is established.
EgyptAir currently operates scheduled passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
