President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is to inaugurate the renovated Sunyani Airport tomorrow, Wednesday, August 3, 2022.
The event, which is scheduled to take place at 10 am local time, is expected to be graced by other high-profile personalities in government and traditional rulers.
This would mark the official opening of the extensively-renovated airport to scheduled commercial flights, and ease the current difficulties that passengers have to go through to get to Sunyani by air.
The runway of the newly-rehabilitated Sunyani Airport, has been extended from 1,280 meters to 1,400 meters. The extension of the runway from 1,280 meters to 1,400 meters now that makes it possible for the airport to accommodate medium-sized jet planes.
This means, once the airport is officially opened for schedule flights, there will be enough capacity as Africa World Airlines (AWA) can operate its jet planes to the airport, to compliment what PassionAir, which has already announced that it would be servicing the airport using Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 will do.
The airport, located in the middle belt of Ghana, has also witnessed the construction of an apron, construction of internal roads and renovation of terminal building. The progress of work to date is about 97%.
Brief Background of Sunyani Airport
The Sunyani Airport was originally constructed as an Airstrip, and later upgraded into an airport in 1969. The airport currently has a total runway length of 1,520 meters made up of 1,400 meters paved and 60 meters unpaved Runway End Safety Area (RESA) at both ends.
It had the capacity to handle and process 100 passengers per hour. Since the commencement of commercial operations, the airport has not had any major renovation works, resulting in the poor state of the airport including cracks and potholes on the runway.
In 2015, the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) shut-down the airport as a precautionary measure to forestall
any disaster. Prior to shutting it down, it was serviced by now defunct domestic airline operator, Starbow.
The rehabilitation and expansion of the airport was carried out in phases. A contract was awarded in 2018 for the rehabilitation of the existing
runway, minimal renovation of the terminal building, construction of some airport internal roads and other auxiliary facilities. Rehabilitation works are almost complete and the airport is to be opened to traffic in the next few months.
Source: Dominick Andoh
