Iberia Airlines begins flight operations to Accra

Accra, July 18, GNA - Mr Angel Valdemoros Llorens, Director, Ventas International, operators of Iberia Airline, on Tuesday said it had worked hard to begin its operations in Accra, and intended to continue to increase its' flights from twice weekly to daily flights.

He said that though the Airline would start its operations in Ghana with only two flights a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, it looked forward to increasing the flights and “thus increase commercial relations between Ghana and Spain”.

Mr LIorens gave the assurance at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, when he arrived in the country on board Iberia's inaugural flight from Madrid, Spain.

He said: “Our goal is to have daily flights and that means we need to increase the number of passengers, establish good relations with passengers so we have to bring more companies into Ghana.”

Mr LIorens noted that although Iberia had no competition regarding the Accra-Madrid route, it considered completion of work on any of their more than 100 routes worldwide as good deal, adding that Iberia was not seeking to make profit in the short term but rather working towards making gains in the long-term.

Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, Director General of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), who met the Iberia officials on arrival, welcomed them to Ghana and assured them of the Government and GCAA's readiness to assist the Airline to have a successful stay in Ghana.

“We want to assure you on behalf of the Airports Company, GCAA and the Ministry, that we would endeavour to support your operations in Accra, just let us know if you come up against any challenges and we'll do our best to ensure you survive in Accra,” Air Commodore Mamphey said.

He said “We do have many people heading towards Spain and beyond, so will quickly add to your frequencies”.

Air Commodore Mamphey said the GCAA was happy that government's liberalisation policy was showing good dividends, with all kinds of carriers coming into Ghana.

He said: “It certainly means that there is confidence in the people of Ghana, our economy is growing and there are more people coming and travelling our way”.

Mr James Wooldridge, Country Commercial Manager for British Airways and Iberia, said the two airlines were a merged company under a holding company called IAG that would be working in Ghana.

He noted that British Airways, currently operated daily flights from Accra-London and other places thus the two airlines would be operating 14 flights a week, which he said was “a great position to have here in Ghana”.

GNA