Goldstar Airlines (Accra) is planning to lease a B767-300(ER) from Portuguese ACMI specialist euroAtlantic Airways (YU, Lisbon) ahead of its tentative launch later on in December.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), airline CEO Eric Bannerman said pending the completion of certification, Goldstar would serve both the United Kingdom and the United States initially before expanding to China.

“All is set for the take off to London Gatwick and Baltimore Thurgood Marshall in December 2015. What is left now is for the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GhCAA) to fix a date for its officials to go and inspect the aircraft and its maintenance base in Lisbon, Portugal,” he said. “We are expecting another aircraft to ply the Guangzhou route shortly. We will take some Ghanaians and train them in the United States of America as cabin crew and engineers to work alongside our foreign crew and finally take over from them when our lease to purchase aircraft arrives."

The start-up has struggled to complete its certification drive with employees holding a street protest against the GhCAA earlier this year.

Goldstar is one of several Ghanaian start-ups eyeing the international market. As previously reported, Fly540 Ghana (Accra) successor Royal Fly-Gh (Accra) and Smile Air (Accra) (which has acquired two ex-Mahan Air (W5, Tehran Mehrabad) B747-400s) are also in the process of securing their respective AOCs ahead of the planned launch of flights to Asia, Europe, and the United States.