March 2, 2022

Member of Parliament for Lawra,  Bede Ziedeng has appealed for more flight schedules to Wa instead of the usual three times a week by a commercial airline Passion Air.

Even though the MP commended the Minister of Transport, Mr. Ofori Asiamah for his relentless efforts in ensuring operationalization of commercial airlines at the Wa Airport after its rehabilitation, he was of the view that increasing the three times flight in a week will help solve the demands from passengers.

Mr. Ziedeng had filed a question in October 2021, trying to find out from the Minister of Transport, why the Wa Airport was no longer being patronised by commercial airlines as in the case of Kumasi and Tamale Airports.

The Minister of Transport in answering the question said the rehabilitation of the Wa airport was completed in 2019 and this paved way for Africa World Airlines (AWA) to start operations in 2019 but said some flights had to be suspended due to some safety concerns relating to the flight approach path coupled with the outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic.

He added that the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority conducted series of Obstacles Limitation Surface (OLS) Standards that define the limits to which objects may penetrate the airspace of an airport and based on that it was realized that some masts were penetrating the OLS surfaces, thus breaching the required standards.

He assured the House that to remedy the above breach; the Ministry together with key stakeholders took the necessary measures to have all the masts removed by their respective owners as well as other trees since 19th July 2021. “Mr. Speaker, airlines can safely operate into Wa Airport without any significant safety hazards on the approach. Passion Air commenced operations to Wa Airport in December, 2021 and operates three (3) weekly flights to Wa“, the Minister stated.

Bede Ziedeng commended the Minister for his hard work but appealed for commercial flights to Wa throughout the whole week instead of the three times scheduled.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com