Ghana¹s air freight industry has been boosted with the addition of Saudi Airlines Cargo, a leading air cargo carrier and passenger airline in the Middle East.

This brings to nine, the number of Freight forwarders operating in Ghana.

At the launch of the Airlines in Accra on Monday, April 2, 2012, the Vice President, Commercial, for Saudi Airlines Cargo, Peter Scholten expressed confidence of a positive operation in Ghana.

He told Xfm 95.1 in an exclusive interview that the conducive business environment in Ghana was what informed their decision to start operations in Ghana.

³Ghana is an emerging market with enormous business potential for air cargo. The addition of this new destination will help us to increase our activities in Africa, where we already operate scheduled B747 freighters from Saudi Arabia to Nairobi, Lagos, Addis Ababa, N¹djamena, Khartoum and Johannesburg,² he said, adding, ³because there is a lot of growth here for air cargo imports into Ghana, and so we are looking forward to a the growth here in Ghana².

³We see growth opportunities hereŠ we will start with one flight a week and increase the number of flights depending on the business growth².

The Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Ghana, .H.E Hesham Meshal Swailem al-Sowalem, who was the guest of honour, said Ghana¹s cargo industry will experience enhancement in its level of operation with the introduction of Saudi cargo with its high international quality standard air craft, saying, ³the role of Saudi cargo is to bridge the world to the Africa especially Ghana, West African and the Middle East²

On his part, the Managing Director of Air Ghana, Michael Maguire said his company is looking forward to developing products in Ghana and finding markets for Saudi Cargo in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

³We have been talking to them for a long time, explaining to them the potential; showing them the infrastructure being put in place by the civil aviation and Ghana Airport Company to improve the airport² Mr Maguire stated.

He said the introduction of another cargo airline will provide Ghanaian exporters with more choices in bringing goods into the country.

Saudi Airlines Cargo operates scheduled freighter services with 12 freighters and sells the belly-capacity on 140 passenger aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines spanning a rapidly expanding global network of 225 destinations.

Saudi Airlines Cargo has been recognized for its excellence on many occasions. Awards include the award of Excellence service as Air Carrier in 2007, a certificate of appreciation for outstanding performance in serving courier companies etc. The Airlines has also acquired the international quality standards certificate ISO in 2001.

Dignitaries that graced the launch were the Manging Director of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company Limited and others including Ambassadors for Pakistan, Algeria Sudan, and Egypt.