Nearly six years after it was completed, the Ho Airport—which was designed to strengthen the economy of the Volta Region and surrounding regions—remains unoccupied.
The airport appeared to be well-maintained and in decent condition during a visit last Friday.
Nevertheless, the airport has practically become a “ghost town” after Passion Air stopped flying to and from Accra in March 2022. It is in desperate need of revitalization to help pay off the $25 million loan that was obtained for the project as well as other running expenses like utilities.
Data obtained from the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) indicated that, following the suspension of commercial operations, the facility has required around GH¢2.42 million in maintenance expenditures over the past two years.
The airline announced that it was abandoning the route due to poor passenger numbers and growing costs.
GH¢1.59 million of the total maintenance expenditure was spent on waste management, exterior works such as horticultural services and weeding for both airside and landside, and cleaning and janitorial services.
The remaining funds were utilized for scheduled maintenance, replacement and repair of closed circuit television (CCTV), fire alarm systems, and fiber optic network infrastructure, as well as maintenance on lighting and its controllers, repairs of a malfunctioning 1Nr chiller, and replacement of hydrant pillar valves.
This implies that the facility, which was once intended to promote trade and tourism in the area and generate employment opportunities, is still costing the state GH¢1.21 million year for upkeep.
The inability of the domestic airlines to resume operations has been attributed to a number of issues, including poor route patronage, aircraft grounding for technical reasons, and growing operating costs.
