March 2023 at Ghana’s Kotoka International Airport [Article]

Hello and welcome to March 2023! In this article, I put together a list of activities that some of the airlines operating to and from the Kotoka International Airport in Accra are expected to undertake or participate in starting this month. Below are the highlights:

Emirates Makes Changes to Operational Time

Effective March 26, 2023, Emirates Airlines will be changing its departure schedule from Accra from 18:50 to 17:50, with arrival in Dubai expected to be at 5:50 (+1 day).

Inversely, departures from Dubai to Accra would be at 7:30 and arrivals at 11:35. Currently, Emirates has a scheduled departure time from Dubai of 7: 40 and an arrival time in Accra of 12:05.

Qatar Airways to Increase Frequency to Accra

Qatar Airways will resume daily services between Doha and Accra from March 26, 2023, after cutting down its flights to four times weekly to help optimize its fleet during the FIFA World Cup last year.

Flights directly from Accra will depart at 19:35 and arrive in Doha at 5:40 (+1 day)
Currently, Qatar Airways serves the Doha – Accra market on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

British Airways Moves to Terminal 3

British Airways will also be moving its Accra flight operations from Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport to Terminal 3. Thus, travellers departing from Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport in Accra will have their aircraft arrive at Terminal 3 of London Heathrow Airport.
The switch from Terminal 5 to 3 will not be the airline’s first time. It made similar changes in 2018.

Ethiopian Airlines to Fly 11x Weekly to Accra

Passenger services between Addis Ababa and Accra will receive a frequency boost as Ethiopian Airlines seeks to increase its direct daily services to eleven weekly services. The four extra flights will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays starting on March 27, 2023.

The new flights will offer passengers additional flight options directly from Accra, i.e., night and morning flight options (depending on a selected departure day) in addition to the existing afternoon flight.

Landing Forms to be Abolished

As announced by the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, all passengers arriving in Ghana from March 31, 2023, will no longer be required to fill out landing cards.

The cards which are used for the collection of personal details of passengers from international destinations will fade out because airport authorities will now be able to access the details electronically.

What is it with 26th March?

As per the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) schedule, the last Sunday in March marks the beginning of its summer schedule. So for 2023, the summer schedule starts on March 26 and will end on the last Saturday of October for the commencement of the winter schedule. It is during these periods that most airlines, for example, examine their operations to improve efficiencies by making changes where necessary. However, this does not guarantee that changes will always be made for a particular route in a given IATA window, as some airlines sometimes have their own operational schedules.

*All times stated are local time

**This is not an exhaustive list of all the activities related to or expected to take place at the Kotoka International Airport

The author, Mark Ofosu is an aviation media relations advisor and writer who shares insights regularly on Ghana’s aviation industry. Email: markofosu15@gmail.com