Sky Team Partners at Kotoka International Airport have sponsored the Ghana Airport Company Limited's (GACL) first quarter Foreign Objects and Debris (FOD) walk for 2013.

The walk is a quarterly event organised by GACL to pick debris including cans, bolts and nuts, polythene bags, twigs and other objects, which could pose danger to aircrafts.

Mr Axel Metselaar, Regional Manager-Ghana, Liberia and Sierra-Leone for KLM & Air France, said the walk is a preventive and educative event that is very important.

He said the FOD walks are very important because: “Safety is paramount in the airline industry and you have to take every precaution to prevent any accidents.”

He said the event also make people conscious of what could happen if they litter the airside.

Mr Metselaar, on behalf the SkyTeam presented five dustbins to the GACL which he noted would help leave a lasting memory on SkyTeam’s efforts and also help to prevent littering.

The team also provided refreshments and souvenirs for the participants.

SkyTeam is made up of airline’s including Air France, KLM Royal Dutch, Delta, Alitalia, Kenya and Middle East airlines.

Other stakeholders who participated in the walk covering the whole length of the runway and taxiway from El-wak to Tetteh Quarshie areas, were Lufthansa German Airlines, Aviance, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, including its Director General Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, Emirates, Fly540, British Airways and MEA among others.

Mr Benjamin Ahlijah, Safety Manager- GACL, said the FOD walk is an awareness creation event meant to make people aware of the dangers of littering, even outside the airport as the wind carried litter, especially polythene onto the airside.

He said the GACL had tasked Zoomlion Ghana Limited, who handle garbage disposal at the airport, to ensure that garbage from aircrafts are removed from the dumping site at dawn, to prevent scavengers from scattering it or wind carrying it back to the airside.

He expressed the hope that domestic airlines and ground handlers would emulate the example.