Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet, is to invest $500 million in a low-cost African airline with Ghana’s capital, Accra, as its regional hub. “We could link Ghana to 10 or 15 different countries in West Africa,” said Ed Winter, former chief operating officer of EasyJet and a member of the management team on the project. They are in Ghana to conduct studies into starting the airline. “We are looking at 15 aircraft with an investment value of $500 million.”
Ghana’s economy, the second-biggest in West Africa at $31 billion, has attracted interest from airlines since the 2007 discovery of oil for export at the Jubilee field. United Airlines and Turkish Airlines began flights in 2010, while TAP of Portugal started flying last year. Fastjet will have to overcome very high levels of taxation in the region, it remains to be seen how this will affect the “low cost”.