Mahama changed the face of aviation in Ghana

Mahama invested heavily in the development and upgrade of the country's aviation infrastructure. Increasing volumes of passengers and cargo exacted a toll on the country's first international airport, the Kotoka International Airport, and stretched it to its limit. In 2014, over 40,000 flights were recorded at the airport. In the same period, total passenger throughput stood at over 2.5 million compared

Read full articleto a little over 1.3 million in 2009, representing nearly a 100% increase.

In response to this need, a lot of projects were undertaken by President John Dramani Mahama to expand Ghana's aviation infrastructure to meet the growing demand. They include the arrival hall expansion project at Terminal 2 at the Kotoka International Airport, the construction of an ultra-modern international terminal (Terminal 3) with a capacity of 5 million passengers a year at the Kotoka International Airport, the first phase of the Tamale International Airport, involving reconstruction and extension of the runway was completed in 2016.

Phase two of the Tamale Airport was to see the construction of a modern terminal for Muslims embarking on the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca.

There are more: the first phase of the Kumasi International Airport project involving the modernisation of the runway, installation of critical Aeronautical Ground Lighting (AGL) system, and Instrument Landing Systems, among other equipment, were completed, and night operations of the airport commenced. The first two phases of the project was to involve an ultra-modern terminal building and further extension of the runway to accommodate medium-sized aircraft.

Others are a new airport at Ho, Ghana Civil Aviation Training Academy (GATA) which is an ultra-modern 8-storey building at the Kotoka International Airport. It has lecture rooms, simulation centres, computer and language centres, conference rooms, and a host of other facilities. This will enable the Academy which started in 2009 train students from Ghana and other countries in various aviation-related courses.

There is also the Ghana Airport Cargo Centre (GACC), a joint venture company between Air Ghana Ltd and the Ghana Airports Company Ltd. It involved the construction of a new state-of-the-art Import, Export, and Transit Cargo Centre, Office Complex, and Aircraft Ramp Handling Operation. The warehouse was equipped with the latest warehouse cargo handling equipment including automated storage and retrieval systems, a mini-shipment tower, cold stores, bullion stores, x-ray scanners, and the highest level of security controls and CCTV monitoring to facilitate movement of goods and also to augment the fight against narcotics.