SSNIT Invests In Airline

Kwame Peprah - Board Chairman of SSNIT

Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Accra, Tuesday September 25, 2012

Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has confirmed its 10 percent equity in the newly-established Africa World Airline (AWA), a local airline founded by Togbe Afede XIV, paramount chief of the Asogli Traditional Area in the Volta region.

The Board Chairman of SSNIT and former Finance Minister, Kwame Peprah, who made the confirmation at the official launch AWA in Accra on Friday said, “We have so far invested between 3 and 4 million dollars in this venture and it is the first phase.”

He said the prospects of the aviation industry in Africa are encouraging and SSNIT decided to take advantage of the situation to make investment.

The partnership of AWA is such that Togbe Afede is supposed to be the principal founder, with SAS Finance Group, SSNIT, HNA Aviation (China) and the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) as the shareholders.

It was incorporated on November 15, 2010 and received its Air Carrier Licence (ACL) from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on March 4, 2011.

AWA is expected to provide services including schedule, charter and cargo flights as well as advertising.

Mr. Peprah said “this is the beginning of our involvement and we are expecting it to be a more dominant force in the industry.”

He said the partners have not paid much attention to competition in the industry at the moment because they were concentrating on how to bring efficiency into the operations of the airline.

“We have to worry about how to make the airline efficient instead of competition and that is what we are working to achieve.”

Togbe Afede said the partners had invested between 30 and 40 million dollars in the first phase of company and they currently have staff strength of 65 including Chinese.

He however said that a number of Ghanaians are indirectly employed to support the operations of the airline and added that plans for expansion were underway.

According to Togbe Afede, AWA was commencing business with Embraer ERJ-145LR jets to cover Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale with Accra as the nerve centre.

“The route network is structured to create a hub-and –spoke model centred upon Accra. This will allow seamless one-change connections between multiple city pairs,” he explained.

He mentioned the major challenge facing the local airline industry as the lack of lights on the runways of the various airports apart from Accra.

“There are no lights on the runways in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale so we are unable to operate at night. It is a bother to us but I know things would be done right.”

Gong Jianzhong, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, underscored the need for the deepening of Chine-Ghana relations and added that China would continue to support Ghana.

“My government is ready to continue its developmental assistance to Ghana and I would urge Chinese businesses to come in to assist in the transformation of the Ghanaian economy.”

Chi Jianxin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of China Africa Development Fund (CADFund) Ghana, said he was hopeful the involvement of the fund in the venture would “stimulate Ghana’s economic growth.”

Chen Wenli, Director of HNA Group, said the group would offer continuous technical assistance to AWA to make it the preferred airline in the sub-region.