Government has been advised against taking any reciprocal action against British Airways in response to the expected rerouting of London-Accra-London flights from the London Heathrow Airport to the London Gatwick Airport.

Earlier this year, British Airways announced it was shelving its decision to operate its Ghana Services from the Gatwick Airport for passengers travelling on the Accra – London route.

But it appears, as some stakeholders have pointed out, that from October this year, British Airways will be operating the British Airways Ghana Services from the London Gatwick Airport.

According to Ranking Member on Parliament’s Road and Transport Committee, Governs Agbodza, the move is a manifestation of a trend of downgrading of the quality of the travelling experience for Ghanaian passengers, and has thus urged government to employ every possible strategy to foil the plan.

But speaking to Citi Business News, Aviation Industry analyst, Sean Mendis, called for increased dialogue on the matter going forward.

“Whether the decision is a good or bad thing, it is one that a private company has made and government agencies should not try to dictate to foreign private companies, especially on how they should run their business.”

“If moving the flights from Heathrow to Gatwick is going to be a bad thing for British Airways, then they will learn their lesson if passengers start deserting them for other airlines. I don’t expect this to flare up into an issue come October. I hope the two (2) sides are mature enough to be able to work out their differences over the next 6 months,” he added.

British Airways reconsiders route change from Gatwick to Heathrow
British Airways has reconsidered its decision to operate its Ghana Services from the Gatwick Airport for passengers travelling on the Accra – London route.

This means, services will operate from the flagship airport for London at Heathrow.

Also, passengers on the Accra – London route will land at their original destination, that is, Heathrow Airport instead of Gatwick Airport.

The decision comes after the Ministry of Aviation earlier this year, rejected the decision by the management of British Airways to operate the British Airways Ghana Services from the London Gatwick Airport starting June 2021.

It will be recalled that the Ministry of Aviation on Tuesday, 19th January 2021, received a letter from the management of British Airways announcing that from June this year, that is the forthcoming summer, it will be moving its operation of British Airways Ghana Services from the London Heathrow Airport to London Gatwick Airport.

This development the Aviation Ministry said it rejected and subsequently communicated its displeasure about the way the decision was being taken without due consultation with the Ghanaian authorities.

The Ministry also noted that though the management of the British Airways had promised to provide further information and data analysis to support their reason for the changes of their services from London Heathrow Airport to London Gatwick Airport, they did not heed to their promise.

UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce urges British Airways to reconsider route change

Earlier, the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce urged management of British Airways to take into consideration the concerns of its clientele and reconsider the decision to operate British Airways Ghana Services from the London Gatwick Airport.

In an interview with Citi Business News, the Executive Director at the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Adjoba Kyiamah said the change in route will bring some inconvenience to business travellers travelling between Accra and London.