Goldstar Airlines (Accra) has appealed to Ghanaian president, John Mahama, in a bid to accelerate the start-up's stalled certification process. The Ghanaweb newswire quotes CEO Eric Bannerman as saying the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) had failed to go and inspect Goldstar's aircraft and other facilities in the USA thereby delaying the carrier's launch.
“I don’t know what the problem is because the airline is Ghanaian so it’s Ghanaians who will benefit a lot from it,” Bannerman said. “We are pleading with the President to use his good offices to encourage the GCAA to go and inspect our equipment so that they can give us the license to begin work. The cost of travel to the USA by GCAA inspectors and Goldstar Airlines officials as well as the license fee is about USD30,000 and we are ready to pay.”
The airline had planned to offer scheduled flights from its Accra hub to London Gatwick, Baltimore International, and Guangzhou, using an MD-11 and a B747.
Research shows the carrier's origins to be murky as Bannerman and his Seasons Travel and Tours were found to be involved in the infamous Ghana-Barbados human trafficking incident of 2008.
