Africa-Press – Ghana. Mr Frank Kofi Apeagyi, the Director of Ghana Aviation Training Academy, has urged the government to take a deliberate action to train more aviation professionals to bridge the impending gap in the industry, as forecasted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
According to ICAO, the aviation industry will require more than 350,000 pilots by 2026 to sustain operations, highlighting an imminent pilot shortage due to limited trained pilots.
It also forecasts that global passenger traffic is expected to exceed 12 billion by 2030, reaching 19.5 billion, representing a twofold increase compared to 2024 levels, by 2042.
Additionally, ICAO predicts that international
passenger traffic will grow at a faster rate than domestic traffic over the next three decades, with international traffic expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 3.3 per cent between 2024 and 2053, while domestic traffic will expand at a slightly slower pace of 2.8 per cent.
Contributing to a panel discussion at the maiden Ghana Transport and Logistics Fair (GTLF) 2025, in Accra, on Thursday, on the topic: “Building the Human Capital for Ghana’s Aviation Renaissance,” Mr. Apeagyi said the statistics offered Ghana a huge opportunity to fill the void that would be created as a result of increased passenger traffic, to reduce its unemployment rate.
This, he said, could be achieved through deliberate investment in the training of more aviation professionals such as pilots, air traffic controllers, and maintenance engineers.
“The industry is not that booming in this country, but we have a lot more institutions that are churning out graduates, so what we need to do is to align the training programmes of the universities, the technical institutions with the industry, in order that they can churn out graduates that meet the industry standards.
“Once we have them qualified this way, we can export them, especially when we don’t have the ready market for them here, they can go and offer their skills in those institutions, and then later on probably can come back and support the industry here,” the Ghana Aviation Training Academy boss said.
The GTLF, organised by the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with Digital Eye, aims to showcase innovation, as well as attract investment and promote collaboration to redefine the country’s transport and logistics sectors.
Mr. Apeagyei, who is also the President of the International Federation of Aviation Engineers, stressed the need for Ghana to revive its national carrier, emphasising on the economic benefit the country stood to gain.
President John Dramani Mahama, during the
opening of the GTLF, on Wednesday, reiterated government’s commitment to bring back their national carrier through a public, private partnership.
Mr. Apeagyi said having a national carrier would create a vast job market in various areas, including cabin crew and aircraft maintenance.
“When we are able to establish a national airline or national carrier, I can tell you that the job market will be huge. I’m sure maybe we may not have to export professionals again,” he told the Ghana News Agency in an interview.
Madam Alissar Kalmoni, an Air Traffic Controller, also called for stronger collaboration between training institutions and industry to ensure that programmes aligned with industry’s demands to effectively equip learners with the right skills to make them employable.
She also urged the government to provide incentives such as scholarships to individuals from “vulnerable” backgrounds who are willing to pursue a career in aviation, to ensure more Ghanaians were able to obtain the requisite skills.
Professor Patricia Mawuli Porter OBE DL, Managing Director, Fafali Aircraft, also urged more women to pursue careers in the aviation industry to make the necessary impact.
She said, contrary to claims that the industry had jobs for only men, many job opportunities existed for women too, including air traffic controls, flight attendants, engineers and even pilots.
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