The Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport has thrown its weight behind a potential and long-overdue review of the domestic Airport Passenger Service Charge (APSC), following a compelling case made by the Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Mrs. Yvonne Afriyie Opare.
During a recent oversight tour, Mrs. Opare passionately appealed to the committee, stressing that the current APSC of GH₵5.00 for domestic flights has remained unchanged since 2013. She described this as “financially unsustainable” and a significant risk to the operational future of regional airports across the country.
“Our domestic APSC has been an issue that has persisted over the years. We’ve been at GH¢5.00 for each flight since 2013, which we have been using to support all our regional airports. It is not sustainable. We are relying heavily on the international passenger charges to fund the rest of the airports, and that’s not a long-term solution,” Mrs. Opare stated.
Domestic service charge
Members of the Committee expressed broad support for GACL’s proposal, acknowledging the urgent need to adjust the outdated charge to better reflect current economic realities and critical infrastructure needs.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Isaac Adjei Mensah, affirmed the general sentiment, stating, “In principle, the current charge is very low — something must be done.”
“Since the price has been GH¢5.00 since 2013, I believe the Committee could ponder over it and see how we could support it so there would be a bit of an increment. If you are charging GH¢10.00 per person and it’s going to a good cause, I don’t think it’s much of a big deal.”
However, the committee also underscored the necessity for complete transparency and clear communication to the Ghanaian public to justify any potential increase.
“What worries me is that for over 10 years, we didn’t do anything about this issue. We need to understand why it stayed so low for so long. If we’re going to back this, we must be able to explain it to Ghanaians,” he stated.
Echoing the call for a revised APSC, Ranking Member Hon. Kennedy Osei Nyarko stressed a bipartisan approach. “This is not a partisan issue. It’s about the sustainability of our airports. If we allow this situation to persist, we risk deteriorating infrastructure,” he said. “We’ll take this matter up with the Minister and possibly Cabinet. But any review will have to follow proper procedure under the Fees Act.”
Vice Chairperson Hon. Andrew Chiwitey Dari and committee member Hon. Ziedeng Anwataazumo Bede also reiterated the committee’s unified, non-partisan commitment to addressing the challenges, praising the cooperation from GACL and other agencies.
As its two-day monitoring visit concluded, the Committee on Roads and Transport committed to compiling a formal report of its findings and recommendations for the Minister for Transport, with a review of the domestic APSC highly anticipated to be a key point of action.
By Osumanu Al-Hassan/thenewsbulletin24.com