Two international airlines have applied to operate charter services and scheduled international flights to the newly-renovated Kumasi International Airport.

The Deputy Minister of Transport In-Charge of Aviation, Hassan Tampuli, addressing stakeholders at the recently-ended 4th AviationGhana Stakeholders Meeting 2023, confirmed this and encouraged others to explore the possibility of servicing the airport directly from their home bases when the airport is inaugurated in the next few months.

“Regarding the Kumasi International Airport, the Ministry of Transport has already received a request from an [international] airline to operate from the Kumasi International Airport, even though it is not completed yet.

So there is a lot of interest already. No incentives have been given but some people have already started seeing the business available in that. I can assure you that one airline has written insisting that they want to operate from Kumasi. There is another group that is planning start direct service from Manchester to Kumasi,” he said.

The test run of airport equipment within the terminal building of the €125 million newly-constructed Kumasi International Airport has begun, AviationGhana checks at the facility have revealed and confirmed by the airports operator, Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL).

The on-going test run is imperative for ahead of the operationalization of the facility for scheduled and charter flights sometime this year.

The Kumasi Airport project comprises the extension of the runway from 1,981m to 2,320m that can accommodate Boeing 737-800 series aircraft, construction of a new two-story ultra-modern terminal, construction of additional aprons, restaurants, shopping and parking areas, and a ring road around the airport.

It’s expected that the new terminal will have the capacity to handle one million passengers per annum. The expansion project is part of the multi-modal transportation system being developed by the government to enhance tourism in the Ashanti Region.

Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, is the busiest domestic destination and it is served by both PassionAir and Africa World Airlines (AWA).

Ghana Airports Company Limited data show that for 2022 more than 840,000 people traveled by air domestically; with the Kumasi Airport receiving the second largest passenger throughput.