Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has joined the likes of Abu Dhabi Aviation (BAR, Abu Dhabi International), Africa World Airlines (AW, Accra), Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius), and Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) in expressing its interest in a joint venture with the Ghanaian government to launch a new national carrier for the country.
According to a report by Citi Business News, the Turkish ambassador to Ghana Nesrin Bayazit told the country's minister of aviation Joseph Kofi Adda that Turkey would be interested and would have the capacity to help grow Ghana's aviation industry.
She referred to Albania as one example where Turkish has just recently helped setting up a national carrier, Air Albania (ZB, Tirana).
The Ghanaian government is looking at forming a new national carrier as a joint venture with an established technical partner. The previous minister of aviation Cecilia Dapaah told the Ghana News Agency last month that additional investigations into the feasibility of the project were required. She added it it could take up to two years between the government's final decision to go ahead and the launch of operations of the carrier.
At present, Ghana only has two active scheduled carriers. Africa World operates six E145s on domestic and regional routes while PassionAir (OP, Accra) has recently launched domestic operations with a single Dash 8-400.
