The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is projecting a 20% decline in revenue due to the drop in the number of flights permitted into the country in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Director-General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey, told Accra-based Citi FM that they may have to think of other means to make up for the shortfall.

His comment is coming after President Akufo-Addo on Sunday (March 15, 2020) announced measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 after Ghana recorded 6 imported cases.

The president announced that Ghana is not allowing inbound flights carrying passengers other than Ghanaians in countries that have recorded more than 200 cases.

This means that passengers scheduled to fly into Ghana from countries like the USA, UK, China, Italy, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, and Germany cannot do so until the restrictions are revised.

The Director-General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey, said this directive will have an impact on the revenue they generate.

“Airports Company depends largely on charges levied on airport passenger charges, while the GCAA also depends on landing fees, reroute charges for aircraft overflying Ghana’s airspace and the passenger safety charge. So once passenger numbers drop, there will be a corresponding decrease in passenger safety charge. For now, we can generally say there will be at least 20% dip as the situation improves or deteriorates, there could be either a further increase or decrease,” he remarked.

Mr Allotey said they would put measures in place to make up for the drop in revenue.

“What we need to do is to sit down, re-strategise and take measures to reduce operational costs. Certain projects which are not critical could be put on hold, and we also need to look at staff costs and expenses. There are further stringent measures we will take to try to minimize expenses as we do not want to shut down the airport which could lead to the laying off of workers.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Aviation, Joseph Kofi Adda, said stakeholders in the sector have agreed to support the government’s measures.

He said this after meeting with the Board of Airline Representatives of Ghana and the Airline Operators Committee on Monday (March 16, 2020).