A few foreign airlines have requested permission from the Ghanaian government to run direct flights from a number of locations to Kumasi International Airport.

The expansion of infrastructure to international standards and the rise in passengers who fly into Kotoka International Airport in Accra before continuing on to Kumasi are the driving forces behind this decision.

Alhassan Tampuli, the deputy minister of transport, made this announcement at a celebration of Air France's 90th anniversary around the globe held at the residence of Jules Armand Aniambossou, the French ambassador to Ghana.

The government is accelerating work at Kumasi International Airport, according to the Deputy Minister, so that it will be ready to receive these airlines once their applications are approved.

“The work on aviation infrastructure is not only targeted at Kumasi Airport but all the regional facilities as well as Kotoka International Airport,” the minister added.

“We are also targeting work at domestic terminals," the Deputy Minister added.

According to Mr Tampuli, the government is dedicated to making Ghana the regional hub for these airlines' operations and passenger travel.

The scale of infrastructure development, according to the deputy minister of transportation, has prompted the majority of foreign airlines that fly to Accra to increase the number of scheduled flights.

The Deputy Minister of Transport revealed that more than one million people had arrived in Accra since the beginning of the pandemic in a later interview with JoyBusiness.

The minister attributed this to the rise in regularly scheduled flights and government policy initiatives intended to enhance the nation's aviation infrastructure.

The Deputy Minister also revealed that additional applications from airlines wishing to run flights into the nation have been submitted.

“We have received applications from Spain and Italy in terms of airlines wanting to fly directly to Accra,” he added.

The deputy minister of transportation also discussed how the government has made significant progress in streamlining the procedures travellers must go through to board and deplane flights at Kotota International Airport.

“We have digitized the process that will no longer require passengers to fill out a form when travelling from our airports and arriving in Ghana,” the minister disclosed.

The Deputy Minister noted, “In all, we had about 13 different steps; now that has been reducing 4 steps to reduce the stress that passengers have to go through before travel.”

“We have done away with filling out forms before travel and arriving in Ghana via our airports,” Alhassan Tampuli disclosed.

The deputy minister of transportation also discussed how the government has made significant progress in streamlining the procedures travellers must go through to board and deplane flights at Kotota International Airport.

He added, “French Business investment in Ghana has now reached over 2 million dollars and we believe that it’s going to increase in the coming months.”

The French Ambassador also talked about how the airline has contributed to commercial exchanges between Ghana and France.

Country Manager for AirFrance-KLM Mees Van Ojik also announced that AirFrance is now flying direct from Paris to Accra and will not be making any stopovers in Burkina Faso.

He also announced that they are increasing their direct flights to Accra three times a week.

Mr Ojik also announced that they are offering a 15 per cent discount on flights booked with their anniversary code.