Starbow Airlines (Accra) will add a pair of Dash 8-400s to its fleet next month airline CEO James Eric Antwi has announced. The turboprops - the carrier's first given its current set up of two BAe 146-300s and one BAe 146-200 - will allow the airline to resume services to thin domestic Ghanaian destinations.

“We stopped flying to Tamale for economic reasons because we have our big aircraft and we were are not getting the numbers to Tamale and back and that is why we are bringing in a smaller aircraft which can contain the situation otherwise we will lose out as a company even on the present passenger load," he told Citifmonline.

The added capacity will also allow the carrier to resume regional West African operations to Abidjan and Cotonou Cadjehoun using its BAe Systems fleet.

“Now we have the certification to operate to almost all the West African countries. We intend to resume operations in Lagos and Abuja from April after the approval in November last year,” Antwi added. "We intend to operate our flights from Abidjan to Conakry then back to Accra, Accra-Cotonou-Nigeria, because most of the business is done within Nigeria, Cotonou and Abidjan."

Later this month, Starbow will also undergo its maiden IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).