Ultralight For Sale

Thank you to Barbados Free Press for providing the forum here to respond.

I will not be able to provide information on some of these subjects (eg. the charges levied) as these are ongoing legal issues that the airline is not a party to. However a majority of the questions are straightforward and have actually been answered by myself or other spokespersons in a number of statements and interviews provided to both Ghana and Barbados media over the last 3 months.

1. WHEN did the airline know that the aircraft that brought the group out to Barbados was going back to Icelandair? And bearing this in mind, with only one remaining aircraft HOW were they going to operate the return flight?
A. The specific aircraft (TF-FIY) that operated the charter to Barbados was on short-term lease from Loftleidir Icelandic, a leasing subsidiary of Icelandair Group. Although it was returned to Loftleidir on 21FEB08, it was replaced by another short-term lease (TF-FIS) that same day, which in turn was replaced by a longer-term lease (TF-LLY) on 27MAR08 which remains in service with the airline to date. The airline remained operationally capable to operate the charter flight on a range of dates until 27MAR08, but was unable to operate beyond that time due to TF-LLY not being ETOPS certified (both TF-FIY and TF-FIS were ETOPS capable). ETOPS certification is required to operate a two-engined aircraft such as the Boeing 757 on routes that require the aircraft to fly more than 60 minutes flying time away from the nearest diversion airport. The flight schedules for this particular airframe provided a thrice weekly down-time in Accra on Mon, Wed and Fri between arrival from London at 0500z and departure back to London at 2340z that would have been used to operate a roundtrip between Accra and Bridgetown.

2. Which other airline did they contract with to repatriate the group?
A. It is my understanding from media reports in Ghana that the repatriation flight was operated by Miami Air International of the USA. However, Ghana International Airlines was not a party to that lease agreement.

3. When did the Sean Mendes or their airline representative notify the Civil Aviation Authority in Barbados that there would not be a return flight?
A. The airline notified the authorities in Barbados on 13FEB08 that the charterer (Seasons Travel and Tours) had not made the required payment for the flight scheduled to operate on 15FEB08 (see #4 below for further details on this). However, the airline continued to maintain that we were willing and able to operate a flight once the appropriate consideration was provided. A public statement was issued by our CEO to the Ghana News Agency on 19FEB08 reiterating this fact.

4. Exactly what were the contractual obligations of Ghana International Airlines Ltd to the tour operator?
A. The exact contractual obligations on both sides run into a long multi-page document, but in brief, the airline was contracted simply to provide an aircraft to fly between Ghana and Barbados for an agreed cost. All commercial aspects of the flight were to be handled by the charterer (Seasons Travel and Tours) who would pay a fixed sum for each flight by a specified period in advance. All seats on the flight, except for 2 Business Class seats blocked for crew rest purposes, were in the exclusive control of the charterer. The charterer explicitly accepted sole responsibility for repatriation of the passengers.

5. Will Mr Sean Mendes name each and every person that has been charged and who they represent?
A. I am unable to provide specifics on this issue due to the reasons outlined in the preamble, but I can however state that no employee of Ghana International Airlines has been either arrested or charged. The airline and its officials continue to cooperate with the authorities in their investigations.

Thank you for your questions on this issue and I look forward to clarifying any other misconceptions that may exist on this subject.