This is NOT a witch hunt on Ghana Scareways but ....

[Gunship]

As I said before on posts Ghana Airways had / still has the potential to become an absolute market leader in the West Africa region but greed and absolute miss management will have their final downfall very soon (Prophet Gunship) ... here is a shortened account of my LAST (Yes absolutuly f......n final !) :mad: Flight that I had with them !

"Hi all,

This is just a quick update from me as I sit @ 37 000' flying as passenger on a DC-10 Of Ghana Airways roughly over the equator, midnight SA time on Monday morning 20 June 2002. I also have a new laptop to try out seeing that my old trusted friend finally said good bye (3 years of great friendship).

I think I must just share my LAST experience with Ghana Airways with you as well. Last Saturday the flight never arrived in Freetown. Lotus Air that shares the African experience with them withdrew their code sharing after non - payment. During the week I could not confirm my flight as well, due to the fact that Ghana Airways could not be traced on the International Database due to no - payment of the computer program.

Make a long story short after I arrived at Lungi Int Airport I got told that I am on the waiting list (after confirmation thereoff the morning). In front of me was areporter from L***** Times and 3 other journalists that where told the same thing. They where even in the offices of Ghana Airways where the booking was confirmed by the manager who now tells them they are on the waiting list... The L*****Times reporter just could not face another day in Africa and tried to head - but the manager who escaped injury when a Dutch TV presenter stopped him in his track. This lead to padamonium where he was chasing the manager. (I later learnt to know that the man spent two days on the toilet instead of covering the Sierra Leone elections after a bout of Sierra Leonean food poisoning.

I must admit when I went to the manager I actually got preferential treatment as I was sure I had the look on my face of damaging his skull.... he also knows what type of aircraft I fly :o So eventually 4 hours late but on our way ... just to arrive in Monrovia (Liberia) in a massive storm. After closing the doors we waited another hour in swelltering heat (no aircon boet) for the storm to go past. An uneventfull journey followed to Accra.

All went well there, checked in and ready to go ... just to be told at the BOARDING gate that the aircraft has not left the UK YET ! Well, well now it was chaos with the Times reporter completely loosing it, so did I and a few others well. This after waiting for 4 hours at the airport. Now $20 must be paid for transit visa which we all refused to pay so Ghana Airways said they will .. but they do not have money (wow !) So no problem they will keep our passports at ransom and then give it back when we leave on Sunday.

Eventually at 0100 on Sunday morning we got in a bus and they took us to the hotel (the first bus half an hour earlier was too small).
At the hotel it took them 45 minutes to check in11 people just to tell me and the remaing 3 people that the hotel is full and we have to wait for another bus to take us to another hotel. Oh in the mean time I got hold of a bottle of Jack and immediately made friends with a Cape Town based world - remowned photographer .. by now it was his 47th birthday as well ... so needless to say when I arrived at the new hotel the legs were wobbly (shows you what small - small sleep does to you ;-))

The Hotel was a mess - I mean I have more Ghana transit Visa stamps in my passport than In / Out Stamps so I know all the hotels but this was a mess. Eventually at 0315 my lights went off with a generator under my bed .. I later found out it was the airconditioner that only blew out hot air.... even so I must have slept an hour or two ...

Sunday morning ... and between the babbalas min sleep I found the toilet just to find no seat and after doing the bit found no toilet paper ... uhhmmm yes that is interesting 3greens from America ... no problem just phone recepetion ....... well needless to say the handset had no cord to the phone and the wall plug was also missing. What is new by now ?
So eventually got a man there that went to the shop and bought me a bar of soap (they do not have), toothbrush and toothpaste and underarm. $17 later he arrived back and I happilly opened the bath tap to realise that it was in my hand in spurting hot water all over me .... typical boer makes a plan ..... leatherman out and fix the problem (by now without the tap) ... I then realise after a while that I had two preying eyes at the whiteman showering (naked 3 greens) with no curtains on .. and being in Africa I just carried on... uhmm with the shower part.

By now not much more can happen ... I mean ...

Breakfast was greeted with 4 pieces of one inch thick toast and black coffee (no milk and sugar (obviously). So I waited another half an hour for the main course .. to be greeted by ... lunch is at 1 sir !

I then remebered I have not eaten for two days and being in Africa for 40 years ... gave the cook $10 to buy eggs and cheese and voila I had a cheese ommelette .... now we are cooking... while I was on a roll I asked for another room as the generator sound of the aircon became unbearable as it sounded now like a bearing went and the exhaust fell off as well.

Believe it or not ... at 10 in the morning I got the Hotel's "Presidential suite" ... Bathroom the size of Carnegy Hall, own DSTV (with remote) .. flat screen TV , bar stocked with Chivas and caviar ... and suddenly I woke up with the now well known sound of the aircon ... bad dream ... bad dream !

The morning was passed at reception (only area that had a power plug) and split aircon (34 degr outside and humidity at 100%) so I decided to format my new laptop. This and two movies later made the afternoon short when the bus arrived at 1600 and took me and the other pax to the airport.

At the airport the fun really started as I met my reporter friend again ... by now totaly out of control as his stomach cramps and little sleep on a mattres that was apparently thinner than the sheet he was lying on did not go down well. By now it was clear that Ghana Airways did not want to / can not pay to release our passports.... after another two hour stand off we lost the poker game and had to pay our transit visa's ourselves ... just to find them sharing the $300 as we walked through the departure hall (we could see them throught the glass office sharing and joking as we obviiosly did not receive receipts (they held the plane up for us). So we paid customs and then Ghana Airways also paid them end then they all shared in the glory. So a quick $600 profit from Stupid White men In Africa. This "offence" was handed over to the DC-10 captain by the Brit reporter.

Well since then All is going well as the plance bounces over The DRC by now (after my fish and potato evening meal) ... so if you did not get this mail you will know that I did not make it ... and if you DO get this mail be advised that I WILL return to Freetown via SAA / Virgin / whoever that flies to London. From there a day or two and off to SL with Sierra National Airlines.
The ticket is three times higher but ... Good Bye Ghana Airways ... I HAD ENOUGH !

Sorry for the spelling and the complaining but I had to get it out and share it with you.

Best regards,

[jeroen_kim]

man that is funny, I had tears in my eyes

[Stratocaster]

This is what GH officially said 4 months ago:

"The head of Ghana Airways, Kofi Kwakwa, has stated that the national airline cannot make ends meet and is on the brink of collapse. The carrier faces debts estimated at US$150 million. Kwakwa admitted that the airline is unlikely to survive without direct aid from the Ghanaian government. He also added that although the carrier has cut down on its losses, it has lost an estimated 40 percent of its clients since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States."

They also cut the newest routes to Beirut and Dubai. Their expansion plan has been a total failure (too much, too fast).

[Engineer]

It was only a matter of time Hopefully with a bit of restructuring, cash inject and a non corrupt management team the situation maybe recoverable.

Link below gives account of seizure by AJ Walters @ LHR

http://allafrica.com/stories/200205300561.html[/URL]

[Gunship]

jeroen_kim, glad you enjoyed it !

Sorry about the spelling again but english is not the first language.

I heard from a travel agent that Ghana claims in Jhb that they will be flying again in July.

Well, well so I will HAVE to leave the African continent eventually after 40 years (to get back to West Africa via Loendoen).

Are you allowed in shorts (khaki) at Heathrow :D

Have a great day !

[Buitenzorg]

From the Chronicle article:
"Surprisingly, 99.5 per cent of the members of the Management Task Force were key members of Quartey's administration which has brought the airline to its current untold and tattered position."

So the "task force" consists of at least 200 members does it? Reassuring, that.

[Wizard]

GHANA AIRWAYS FUTURE LOOKING SHAKY

14 June 2002 Source: Reuters

Ghana Airways is heavily in debt and may team up with a foreign carrier to avoid becoming the latest in a string of failed airlines, board chairman Sam Jonah said.

Jonah said the state-owned airline, created 45 years ago when the West African country won independence from Britain, has debts to the tune of $160 million.

The board was studying joint venture proposals from a Swiss-British company called Triaton and from Beirut-based T&E Aviation, said Jonah, who is also chief executive of Ghana's biggest company Ashanti Goldfields. He gave no further details of the potential partners.

"There aren't any soft options. Any day, any of the creditors can bring this ship down. Let's not kid ourselves, every day the airline takes off, the debt deepens," Jonah told reporters in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

Jonah said that if the government did not want a tie-up with another carrier, it would need to recapitalise the company or could convert an $80-million government-backed loan into equity. "Then we could perhaps go to a bank and see if they can match it with another loan," Jonah said.

But he said the situation was urgent, adding that a creditor in Britain had seized one of Ghana Airways' planes at Heathrow airport last month under a London court order. "They let it go only after we managed to pay one million dollars. But at the end of this month we have to cough up $1.5 million, and then next month too, and frankly we don't know where we're going to find it," he said.

Ghanaian government officials declined comment on Jonah's proposals for the airline, which flies to over a dozen destinations in Europe, North America and West Africa.

With five aircraft and 1,407 staff, Ghana Airways has a high staff-aircraft ratio of 282, compared to 199 at Dutch carrier KLM and 167 at British Airways, Jonah said.

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Does anyone know what happened to the Ghana-Airways.com web site as it appears to be off the air?

[covertwar]

1. i left ghana in march on klm for obvious reasons.

2. the ghana-airways.com domain is no longer reserved for non-payment of fees. yahoo even took it out of their directory.
however the italian site still remains, although not much can be done there. all this seems very pathetic to me.

first they fly to jfk. they lease dc-10's left and right from belgium's skyjet. they introduce baltimore while flights going to jfk aren't even all that full(their dc-10's take 272 9g-ana,anb,anc). how can you, an airline going through tough times, maintain a dc-9-51 that takes 120 on a daily 230nm route with only 20 souls on board?
they are never on time. maintainance is crappy, seats are torn, trays are sticky, aircraft need painted. stupid excuses. tire is flat. pilot has not reported back from crew rest. seizure. i remember a couple months ago when a ground handling company in dakar seized a dc-10 en-route to jfk. now they do the same at heathrow. they owe shell ghana almost 300 grand in fuel dues. still haven't been paid. board members get 8 free tickets a year. governmental officials take gh and don't pay. some group of students tried burning down their office in banjul when a baltimore flight actually came early and left them. their student visas were on the verge of expiring.
you introduce new routes. dubai. beirut. you lease an a320 from lotus of egypt. you don't pay. aircraft get repossessed.
damn, how can you run an airline with half the fleet grounded most of the time? how can you delay a flight for one week! how can you put people in a crappy hotel like that? take them to a cheap resturant? if ya can't handle the buisness just back out.

screw national pride, this is all about keeping it within your means...

(¯`·._.··warfare incorporated··._.·`¯)

[C Montgomery Burns]

You talking about GH or Nigeria Airways here? ;) :D

[Engineer]

covertwar

You have mentioned all of their good points what about the bad ones :D :D :D

[PercyDragon]

Oh Africa. I just love the place. Having spent seven years in Kenya and also five years in Nigeria I have the scars (mental and physical). Every time I leave I swear I'm never going back...but there's something about the continent that just gets under your skin.

I have this great idea. Why don't we re-colonize the whole country!? Vote here for the great new British Empire.

[JIM JAM]

Just say when! Can we start with Rhodesia first - my heart bleeds with what is happening out there at the moment and that is coming from someone who was born in Africa and loves the continent!

[Gunship]

PercyDragon,

You are not serious are you bru ?

What about The AWB or some "Boere" running Africa ... seems like they did a good job at a stage ... uhmmm referring to the rand that turned into sh*tpaper.

But the great Brit Empire ... no bru ... no please man. :D

[126.9]

No thank you very much! All that remains of that EMPIRE are two very small groups of islands. One's called the Falklands and the other less significant group lies just off the west coast of Europe!

No thank you very much. Close up that tunnel and push 'em out to sea!! :D

[Gunship]

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[SASless]

Very entertaining post.....and having spent three weeks on the Accra ramp getting a Bell 412 airworthy following an inspection....I can truely enjoy the story....having had similar experiences myself. The story does beg the question.....BA can have their hiccups too...as can KLM....and even Lufthansa.....but given an enlightened choice....why in the world would anyone choose Ghana or Nigeria airways for a flight??? I know my British friends are good with a penny....but darn...sometimes it just pays to spend a bit more and go "first class"!

This ...without meaning to be uncharitable....is a pure case of shooting oneself in the foot! Ghana Air may have been the only choice in getting to Accra from the departure point but after in Accra....Ghana Air would be the very last choice of flights I would have made.

I would have gone to the Beach Hotel or the Tulip and sat in the bar pending the departure of any of the European airlines flights.

[Gunship]

Reference (http://allafrica.com/stories/200207030736.html)

John Bediako

Ripples from a June 19 Ghana Airways pilots strike are still being felt at the troubled airline, as accusations and counter accusations rage between the pilots and management.

A letter dated June 19, 2002, from Ghana Airline Pilots Association (GALPA) to the Honourable Minister of Roads and Transport, enumerated gross incompetence in the present management team, obvious disregard of the board by management, arrogance and autocratic management style leading to a total breakdown in communication between the management and the pilots association.

The letter signed by Captain S. Thompson, president of GALPA, also referred to total disregard of the interests and wellbeing of the staff and the airline, management practices in flight operations and total misrepresentation of facts at Ghana Airways to the public.

The pilots called for the removal of two management task forces led by Captains Kwakwa and Foli, even though no financial impropriety has been levelled against them.

Although the pilots accused the present management team of gross incompetence, insiders say this is a blanket indictment that cannot be substantiated.

Ghana Airways management sources told Chronicle that the pilots were generally unhappy at the reluctance of the management team to reinstate some fringe benefits.

Some of the pilots named as being ringleaders are said to be inciting their colleagues to strike in order to cover up for their deeds that are crippling the national airline.

Classic examples are the purchases of three old DC 9 aircraft, of which only one is operating, and the leasing of a DC 9 from South Africa at great cost.

There is also an allegation of Captain Paul Fordjour approving the lease of an old DC 10 for which so much money was paid to the owner, SKY JET, out of which contract the owner purchased two new aircraft.

Another report was on the pivotal role being played by a senior pilot who is allegedly championing the cause of T&E Aviation of Beirut, Lebanon to become a strategic partner of Ghana Airways.

The said pilot is said to have been promised the position of Director of Operations, if T&E Aviation (SARL) of Beirut gets through.

They are currently joint partners in Ghanair's operations to Beirut and Johannesburg.

The other prospective partner, A. G. Of Switzerland (Triaton), is a consortium formed mainly by ex-Swissair management personnel based in Switzerland.

According to the sources, pilots earn as much as $5,000 (¢40 million) as take home pay, excluding $700 (¢4.9 million) tax-free allowances for a return trip to South Africa considered by pilots as "World Bank Route."

The pilots have also been accused of filling the aircraft's baggage compartments with their commercial cargoes before paid passengers are given the chance, leading to leftover baggage.

Meanwhile, Chronicle's attempt to reach Captain Paul Fordjour, said to be the ring leader, yielded no fruit but a source close to him hinted that most of the allegations are baseless.

On the issue of three DC 9 aircraft purchased, and only one is operational, the source, an insider, said that the claim is false.

According to him, the Ghana Airways purchased the three, one is presently in operation, another was involved in an accident in Conakry, Guinea.

The insurance company paid Ghana Airways $5 million, and the national airline turned round and purchased the damaged plane at $750,000 (¢4.250 billion).

The third one, he said, is in Napoli, Italy awaiting routine maintenance costing about $300,000 for which fund management is looking up to government to bail it out, but which is not forthcoming.

According to the source, who pleaded anonymity, the pilots' strike has no link to the drunkenness by two pilots which he confirmed is under investigation.

As regards the huge salaries enjoyed by Ghanair pilots, he laughed and said that the highest take home pay of a senior pilot is in the region of ¢20 million and even only two or three pilots are in this bracket.

According to him, the pilots' grumblings all began when Asoma Banda leading T&E Aviation of Beirut, who are vying for partnership in Ghana Airways, made it point blank that if his team is considered they are going to sack the present management for incompetence.

As a result management is frustrating T&E Aviation who they say have an Arab background which would impede Ghanair flights to the United States (US) because of the September 11, 2002 disaster.

He queried, "What happens to Egypt Air, Middle East Airlines (MEA) still flying to the US.

Still furious, he stated that the pilots first decided to wait and see if their colleagues, politically lifted to manage them, could perform but now that the whole airline is grinding to a halt, the pilots decided to fight for their future.

[Engineer]

Interesting how events turn around Foli was a recent GALPA president whilst Forjoe was the DFO at the time.

With positions swapped, now look like serious power base positioning going on.

All this makes you wonder if money is to be made at the ailing airlines.

Or just a ploy to get PercyDragon to take a seat on the golden stool in Kusmasi :p

SASless try the Waikiki/Kilimanjaro it is more entertaining
;) ;)

[covertwar]

when you ask em why they buy old dc-10's and dc-9's, they tell you because of crew familiarity....

[Gunship]

The peep sees that Million Air from Jhb, South Africa is doing the West - Coast route (Accra - Ivory Coast - Liberia - SL - Guinea) again for Ghana Airways.

I pressume they got paid again ... :D:

How long before they pull out again ? :rolleyes: