Debt ridden with no assets, officials of Ghana Airways maintain that the national carrier has the potential to recover from almost a decade of blues and make profit.

They said given a respite of three years by creditors, (who the airline owes a total of about 130 million dollars) and a change of the cost-incurring fleet, "the present management can turn things around and we will all be happy with a national airline worth its name."

Mr Sam Jonah, Chairman of the Board said this when he briefed journalists in Accra about the state of Ghana airways and what steps could be taken to save it from total collapse.

He pleaded with creditors to bear with the new management, saying forward looking and viable proposals had been put before government, which when approved would help in giving the company hope for a rebound.

He proposed the consolidation of existing liabilities of the airline and said, "The major problem is with the kind of fleet in use and the need for the owner to put in some more money."

The 40-years plus airline presently has six aircraft aged between 18 and 27 years. It has a stated capital of 13,000 dollars, makes about 50 million dollars, but is in debt of about 130 million dollars.

Mr Jonah said the new management inherited a crippling debt of 119 million dollars. " Total loans as at March 31, 2001, stand at 61.8 million dollars while trade creditors are owed 57.5 million dollars."

He said three months after taking office the new management has taken measures to ensure the survival of the airline through the suspension of unprofitable routes, renegotiation of debts and reduction of per diem allowance by 40 per cent.

" In agreement with staff, we have effected a 30 per cent suspension of salaries in order to ensure savings on cash flow, while reducing overtime costs from 300 million cedis a month to 56 million cedis a month."

Mr Jonah said the provision for three chief executives has been eliminated while departmental heads have been reduced to the barest minimum.

"We hope to reduce our number of foreign crew from 40 to 20 by the end of August, save by three per cent on fuel costs and improve on excess baggage fee collection.

" After three months in office, we have improved from collecting one million cedis a month to 400 million cedis a month due to diligence at both departure and arrival points."

Mr Jonah said reduced discounting and issuance of free tickets have been slashed drastically from an average of 100 a month (valued at 78,000 dollars) to eight at the end of May at an average of 19 per cent and 10 at an average of 20 per cent in June.

He said the airline has since May 31 improved punctuality from 18 per cent to 63 per cent.

According to him, the nation could benefit from the Gateway Concept which had made Accra a hub and built confidence in the country as a safe destination, adding that, " British Airways, Lufthansa, Kenya Airways, and Sabena have all requested more flight times to Accra and we must exploit all this to make us viable again."

"Our industry's technical competence, with Federal Aviation Authority Accreditation puts us in a good position to move forward," he added.

Mr Jonah said, "there has been no time on our side and we have to move quickly. This is because with regional powerhouses such as South Africa Airways, Royal Air Morocco and an open skies policy in the industry we have no choice but to act fast and recapture our market share."