President Akufo-Addo eases COVID-19 restrictions at KIA
Ghana recorded air traffic losses during pandemic waves
Aviation Analyst, Sean Mendes has projected that Ghana’s international air traffic through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) could exceed 2. 1 million by the end of this year.
The projection comes after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the easing of some COVID-19 induced restrictions at the airport, land and sea borders on Sunday, March 27 2022.
Reacting to the development in an interview on Citi Business News, Sean Mendes expressed confidence that the easing of the restrictions at the KIA will improve air traffic and passenger activity.
“We saw that the total air traffic in Ghana in 2021 was 2.1 million as against an all-time high of 3 million in 2019. We expect that the figure for 2022 will be an improvement on what was recorded in 2021,” he is quoted by Citi Business News.
“But it won’t recover entirely to 2019 levels until 2023 or probably more likely 2024. Certainly, taking steps towards allowing fully vaccinated passengers easy access to Ghana will definitely serve to recover a big chunk of the traffic that has been lost to Ghana in the past few years,” he added.
In addition to the projection, Sean Mendes called on government to stringently monitor developments and put in place measures at the KIA to ensure aviation and tourism figures are not put ahead of public health.
“For now, I think the measures taken are good steps in the right direction. I’m sure the public health people will be constantly looking at the new measures, reviewing them and making sure that neither too much or too little is being done to boost the industry as well as to ensure that the public health goals are being met,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has declared that fully vaccinated persons arriving at the Kotoka International Airport will not be mandated to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test from the country they arrive from.
He added that travelers in that category will not undergo COVID-19 testing on arrival at the KIA while those who are not fully vaccinated will be required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test in addition to an antigen test.
Ghana’s land and sea borders were on March 28 reopened after a two-year closure. The decision comes after President Akufo-Addo concluded a series of meetings to ensure the actualization of the reopening.
Ghana first closed down its air, land and sea borders back in March 2020 to limit the spread of COVID-19 virus. Since the onset of pandemic, the country has experienced about four waves of the pandemic.
Ghana's Kotoka International Airport - Terminal 3