Goldstar Air, a wholly Ghanaian owned airline is working to have its own Maintenance Repair Organization (MRO) and Training School in Tamale soon.

In the interim, the airline and Ethiopian Airlines have signed an agreement for it to use Ethiopian Airline’s MRO to assist Goldstar Air.

The MRO of Ethiopian Airlines has over 1,800 fully qualified technical staff and state of the art maintenance hangar and paint hangar facility certified by competent regulatory bodies like Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ETCAA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Based at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Airlines MRO, established in 1957, provides services for aircrafts, engines and components and has four main hangars used for airframe maintenance.

These are a closed–door hangar to accommodate one Boeing 767/787/777; and a closed door hangar to accommodate two Boeing 767/787s or four Boeing 737 size airplanes at the same time. The third hangar is an open door and can accommodate three Boeing 737 size airplanes and the fourth is an open door Hangar that accommodates two Q400s.

Also, Ethiopian Airlines has two warehouses for over 100,000 line items; the first is dedicated to aircraft parts whereas the second is used for commercial and bulk items which will be very beneficial to Goldstar Air.

Mr Eric Bannerman, the Executive Chairman of Goldstar Air, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the deal said “whenever any technical and engineering assistance anywhere in the world is needed, they will immediately dispatch Ethiopian Airlines personnel to the place where the repair works will be carried out.

“Their values at the Maintenance Repair Organization focuses on top quality, short turnaround time, highly competitive prices, and excellent customer service.”

According Executive Chairman, the airline will be sending personnel of the company, who are retired young Air force engineers and pilots for type rating in Ethiopia on Boeing aircrafts soon.

“The engineers will be back and work as assistants while the pilots will come as first officers, till they all gain more experience on the Boeing aircraft, which will make them captains on their own.”

Mr Bannerman said preparations are far advanced for Goldstar Air aircraft to be flown to the Ethiopian MRO for final servicing and paint works. Ethiopian Airlines will also livery Goldstar Air colors to reflect the wings of Ghana and the logo of the supporting bank on the aircrafts.

Goldstar Air will be initially, flying to twelve destinations worldwide, from Accra to London, Dubai, Guangzhou, Baltimore Washington International, Providence International, Lagos, Abidjan, Monrovia, Freetown, Banjul, Conakry and Dakar.

“Our intention as Ghanaians, is to build a state of the art and trend-setting aviation industry in terms of safety, quality, reliability, punctuality, efficiency and costs,” the Goldstar Air Executive Chairman said.