Barely 24 hours after McDan Aviation’s private jet launched its operations and terminal at the Kotoka International Airport, a leaked letter shows the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has a raft of issues with the private company.
The aviation wing of the McDan conglomerate launched the private terminal and services at a plush ceremony on Friday, January 28, 2022, but a letter from the GACL to the Minister of Transport, dated January 24, 2022, accuses McDan Aviation of failing to meet key operational requirements.
According to the letter, published below, McDan Aviation “owes GACL a total of $4,505,034 and GHS227,293 respectively.”
It disclosed further that “as part of negotiating a payment plan, McDan paid GHS1,000,000 on January 19, 2022.”
The Ghana Airport Company also said McDan Aviation “is yet to agree on a Fixed Base Operator (Private Jet Terminal Operator) license fee with GACL.”
READ ALSO: Private jet terminal at KIA begins operation
Reports indicate leaders within the sector, including the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, refused to attend the event following issues raised against the firm by the Ghana Airport Company Limited.
Design for remodelling not approved, permit not approved for actual construction works, no GACL supervision to ensure quality standards were met, no certification of actual work done. Can it get any worse than this? How was he allowed Gh Aviation to get this far? See the letter pic.twitter.com/Oaoq3FrY1r
— Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq. MP. (@etsedafeamekpor) January 29, 2022
The letter further directed McDan Aviation to suspend the commissioning ceremony following some alleged breaches.
The Ghana Airport Company, in the letter to McDan, said it had “engaged in several activities without prior approval from GACL which have typically called for emergency corrective actions.”
It cited the commencement of the construction of the private jet terminal without a Plan of Construction Operation approval from GACL as an example.
“We only became aware of your construction activities during routine security patrols, and we had to ask you to stop and submit a PCO [Plan of Construction Operation] for review and approval before construction continued.”
McDan Aviation received a license to operate as a fixed-base operator at the airport in 2019.
The letter from the Ghana Airport Company had even requested that McDan Aviation postpone the launch of the private jet lounge yesterday.
This is a very interesting letter. All along, I thought McDan was a concessionaire leasing & operating a private jet terminal from GACL. Turns out they are actually a competitor to GACL, which had its own charter jet plans. I am of 2 minds: bold business or state capture? https://t.co/UWAvWjtucS
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) January 29, 2022
GACL said it was given short notice to offer logistical support, among others, at the commissioning ceremony.
“The nature of our work demands that we should have been given a reasonable period of notice to enable us plan adequately through the engagement of relevant staff and stakeholders.”
The Ghana Airport Company also said, “all attempts to meet with you for discussions in connection with the proposed inauguration over the past three days failed as a result of your failure to turn up for the planned meetings.”