Aviation analyst Sean Mendes believes that continued flight restrictions in various
parts of the world will affect the ability of Ghana's aviation sector to fully recover
to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the strong performance of the domestic sector in 2021, international travel is still
underperforming. The State Department recently unveiled a series of stringent test
measures to persuade the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to reconsider its
the decision to lift travel restrictions imposed late last month on travelers from Ghana to
the UAE.
In an interview with Citi Business News about the future of the sector in 2022,
Mr. Mendes expressed confidence that domestic air travel will continue to flourish,
while international travel will grow slowly.
Sean Mendes
"Even though we do not have all the relevant data, I think the domestic sector in
Ghana recovered extremely well in 2021. It looks like Ghana has surpassed 2019
passenger numbers. This shows that the domestic market has fully recovered.
However, international travel is at about 65% of 2019 levels."
"I think we will probably see a recovery in the second half of 2022,
but 2022 will still be below 2019 numbers.
The recovery is slow and steady, and unfortunately, while Ghana has been very
consistent with its entry and travel protocols, it takes two countries to do
international travel, so if one country has restrictions, traffic numbers will be low,
" he added.