Goldstar, Civil Aviation Resolve Impasse

Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport has requested the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to travel to the US and inspect an aircraft of Goldstar Airline with Ghana business registration.

The request follows a resolution of the impasse between Goldstar Airlines and GCAA over the inspection of the airline's aircraft.

Goldstar Airlines subsequently called off an intended protest march yesterday.

The decision, according to Eric Bannerman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Goldstar Airlines, was arrived at after the timely intervention of the Greater Accra Police Regional Commander, COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno.

This followed a meeting between officials of Goldstar Airlines and GCAA chaired by the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor and the Chief Director of the Ministry.

The protest march had been scheduled to coincide with the maiden flight of South African Airways to Washington, the same route Goldstar Airlines applied for 18 months ago.

A petition was scheduled to be presented to the Minister of Transport, Speaker of Parliament, the Chief of Staff and the Director General of GCAA to compel them to dispatch a team of technical aviation experts to the United States to inspect the aircraft as prescribed by law.

'Per the charter requirement, the Ghana Tourist Authority had requested the Civil Aviation Authority to dispatch a team of aviation experts to inspect our aircraft and equipment in the United States to enable them to complete the paperwork of Goldstar Airlines’ license to start its charter operation,' Mr Bannerman said.

He however pointed out that the request by the Ghana Tourist Authority to do the inspection was turned down by the GCAA much to the embarrassment of the Ghana Tourist Authority and Goldstar Airlines.

This, he said, resulted in the misunderstanding between Goldstar Airlines and GCAA, as Goldstar questioned the refusal and discrimination against it.

'The meeting was at the instance of the Minister of Transport upon the intervention of the Regional Command.

'The tussle arose on the business registration of the airline with officials of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authorities insisting that Goldstar Airline used a foreign business registration instead of the Ghana business registration,' the Goldstar CEO said.

He added that after a resolution of the stalemate on the issue, the sector minister requested the civil aviation authorities to inspect the aircraft with the Ghana business registration, which led to the cancellation of the protest march.

GNA