The Aviation Ministry has begun talks with the Finance Ministry to scrap taxes on import duty on aircraft parts and other ancillary aircraft equipment, the former’s minister has said.

According to Cecilia Dapaah, when done it will complement government’s move to reduce the components of the price build-up of VAT on domestic airline tickets.

It is also expected to increase the patronage of domestic air travel in the country, she added.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting to discuss developments in the aviation industry, Ms Dapaah said the move was part of efforts to make air travel within the country affordable.

“About the removal of import duties on aircraft spare parts, we are in talks with the Finance Ministry.

“We are to submit a memo to [the minister] for it to be favourably considered. So that is good news,” she mentioned.

Attracting new domestic airlines

The Minister also assured that plans are in place to attract new airlines into Ghana’s domestic aviation industry.

The assurance comes after domestic carrier, Starbow Airlines, halted its operations in November last year, leaving Africa World Airlines (AWA) as the only domestic airline in the country.

The Minister for Aviation said her Ministry is taking the necessary steps to increase domestic airlines and also deepen competition within the industry.

Describing a recent accident that happened to Starbow as unfortunate, Madam Dapaah announced that government is supporting AWA to meet the demands for domestic airline travel.

“I believe we have a number of plans in the pipeline. Plans are going on to make sure we have other systems to support AWA. Surely, nobody wished Starbow to have that incident but it happened. So what do we do in the interim? We are putting things in place.”

Madam Dapaah stated that the decision to attract investors into the domestic airline industry is also aimed at Ghana an aviation hub in the sub-region.

She maintained that government is undertaking all the steps as well as improving the infrastructure needs of the aviation industry.