GHANA – Boeing, an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide is looking to set up a service station in Ghana.
This was revealed by Yofi Grant, the Chief executive officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority.
According to the GIPC boss, the Boeing service center will service planes in the sub-Saharan region and Africa as a whole.
The announcement by Boeing is coming at a time when the Republic of Ghana is seriously considering the option of relaunching its defunct national flag carrier starting with 787-9 Dreamliners.
The country signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing at the Dubai Air Show covering three of the airplanes valued at $877.5 million according to list prices.
Plans put in place by both parties called for the airline to launch operations in the first quarter of 2020 and take its first three airplanes directly from Boeing.
“There is a growing demand for air travel to and from Ghana, and we believe the advanced 787-9 Dreamliner gives us an efficient and flexible machine to launch a regional network and eventually serve international destinations in the future,” Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Aviation said.
Adda says the carrier, to be based in Accra, would establish the capital city as a strategic hub that serves cities across West Africa.
Future routes for the Ghanaian airline would include destinations in Europe, North America, and Asia and the long-term plan is to open the airline to private investment and operation.
In 2019, the World Investment Report showed that at US$3 billion, Ghana received the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in West Africa beating Nigeria, the region’s largest economy.
The intention of Boeing to launch a service center in Ghana follows a similar intention by other global players in the automotive industry to establish a presence in Ghana.
Earlier in August, Volkwagen inaugurated its car assembly plant in the country’s capital, Accra at an event attended by Ghana’s present His Excellency President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Other automotive manufacturers including Nissan, and Renault are also strongly considering to set up shop in the west African country that is home to more than 30 million people.
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