The Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has closed a McDan Aviation (Ghana) (Accra) private terminal at Accra airport over unpaid debts totalling nearly USD4 million, although the operator disputes the amount and the closure itself, The New Republic daily has reported.

The state-owned airport operator said that the deadline for paying the debt expired on December 25, 2024, two years after it first told McDan Aviation to pay the overdue charges. The total amount includes USD640,000 in unpaid rent and charges related to the terminal itself, USD3.3 million related to lease contracts for two land plots near the airport, and smaller amounts related to other contracts.

The GACL confirmed that McDan Aviation paid GHS2 million cedi (USD135,000) on December 24. The airport company nonetheless insists on full payment.

McDan Aviation has said that USD2 million of the alleged debt is linked to a plot whose ownership is currently under an unrelated legal dispute. It claims that as long as that lawsuit is not concluded, it cannot settle fully with the GACL. The airport operator insists that this is not a valid reason to delay the accrued debt.

The GACL first demanded payment of overdue rent from McDan Aviation in late 2022, although the debt has been accumulating since 2020.

The development follows reports from earlier in December 2024 which alleged that McDan Aviation's Challenger 604 private jet, T7-MCDAN (msn 5319), operated through McDan Aviation San Marino, had been seized by an unidentified service provider at London Southend, also over a debt. The aircraft arrived at the British airport on December 7 and has yet to resume activities.

The operator strongly denied that the aircraft had been seized.

"McDan Group unequivocally condemns the circulation of false, baseless, and malicious reports. These fabricated and unsubstantiated claims not only damage our reputation but also impede our efforts to contribute positively to the nation’s progress," it said.

McDan Aviation (San Marino) also operates one G550 and one Global Express.

Neither GACL nor McDan Aviation responded to ch-aviation's requests for comment.