The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has agreed go to Portugal and inspect an aircraft and its maintenance base to enable Goldstar Airlines, a Ghanaian registered airliner, start flight operations to London and Washington next December.

This follows Goldstar's acquisition of the services of Euroatlantic airways to ply the Accra- Baltimore (Washington) - Accra and Accra- London (Gatwick) - Accra.

“All is set for the take off to London (Gatwick) and Baltimore (Washington) in December 2015. What is left now is for the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to fix a date for its officials to go and inspect the Aircraft and its maintenance base in Lisbon, Portugal,” Mr Eric Bannerman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Goldstar Airlines announced in Accra.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday, Mr Bannerman said the airliner Euroatlantic Airways is one of the best airlines in Europe and has the expertise to combine with officials of Goldstar Airlines to undertake the services perfectly.

According to the CEO, Goldstar expects to have tourists groups from schools and churches as well as individuals from Europe and the United States of America to help some hotels and guest houses which Goldstar has signed contracts with throughout the country.

Mr Bannerman said the aircraft to be deployed on the London (Gatwick) and Baltimore (Washington) routes will be a wide body Boeing 767-300ER aircraft with passenger seating capacity of three hundred and two (302).

“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,” Mr Bannerman said.

Goldstar Airlines will be the third carrier to fly direct to the United States of America and second carrier to fly direct to United Kingdom.

The Goldstar CEO said if all goes well, Goldstar Airlines will be on record to be the first airliner to fly direct from Accra to China (Guangzhou), which he describes as “an achievement to all Ghanaians.

“For our cooperate social responsibility Goldstar Airlines will be working hand in hand with Sports Ministry to see how best we can help team Ghana fly to their various tournaments.”

Mr Bannerman said soon after the inspection, there would be an official launch of the routes in Accra, London and Washington to outline the services and packages.

“The launching of the routes also will be in Togo, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone with our General Sales Agents,” Mr Bannerman added.