► GHANA: ASKY Airlines eyeing a secondary hub out of Kumasi as everyone complains about Nigeria.

Ethiopian Airlines' West African subsidiary, ASKY Airlines (KP), is reportedly considering turning Kumasi, Ghana into a secondary hub through the launch of direct flights to various West African capital cities and commercial centres. The move comes as domestic Ghanaian carrier Starbow Airlines (S9) is also planning a resumption and expansion of its regional services.

■ GHANA: Kumasi Airport partially closed again after huge cracks, subsidence appear in runway 20.

Kumasi Airport in Ghana has been closed once more owing to its runway 20 cracking and subsiding. This follows after the airport was closed year in December to allow for repairs to the same runway.

► MOZAMBIQUE: See Pics of VistaJet's ongoing Global 6000 Business Jet Africa Tour, set to stop in Maputo next.

Vistajet, the Swiss company luxury jet company specializing in short term leasing, has taken its Bombardier Global 6000 jet on a global roadshow with Africa being the first leg. Thus far, Kumasi, Accra, Abuja, Lagos, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Luanda, Johannesburg, Cape Town have been visited with Maputo, Kampala, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam still left.

► GHANA: Starbow Airlines increases flights to Kumasi, Tamale in February.

Ghanaian carrier Starbow Airlines (S9) has announced the addition of added flights on its Accra - Kumasi and Accra - Tamale  routes following strong demand to both destinations.

► GHANA: Antrak Air to launch Kumasi - Tamale from 28 January.

Ghanaian domestic operator Antrak Air (4O) is to launch daily Kumasi - Tamale flights using an ATR72-500 effective tomorrow Monday 28 January 2013.

■ GHANA: Government signs MoU with Chinese firm for feasibility study on new Accra airport near Prampram.

Ghana's Minister of Transport, Alhaji Collins Dauda, yesterday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the China Airports Construction Corporation (CACC) to undertake a feasibility study for a conceptual design for a new international airport to be situated near Prampram in Dangbe-East District, near Accra.

► GHANA: (Pics) Africa World Airlines first Embraer ERJ145 finally arrives in Accra.

After a long delivery flight that was routed Tianjin - Changsha - Kunming - Kolkata - Ahmedabad - Abu Dhabi - Djibouti - Entebbe before finally arriving at Accra's Kotoka International Airport at 11.22am today, Ghana's Africa World Airlines (AW) new Embraer ERJ145 (c/n 14500996 | 9G-AET) was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute by the airport's fire department.

► GHANA: More woes for CTK CiTylinK as it loses its leased Fokker 100 over unpaid bills.

In a sign that times are getting even tougher for Ghanaian domestic carrier CTK CiTylinK Airlines (CTQ), it has emerged that its Fokker 100 (MSN: 11407 | 9A-BTD), wet leased only recently in May of this year, has been returned to its owner, Croatia's Trade Air, as a result of the airline's inability to pay its leasing fees.

The airline suspended operations nearly 2 weeks ago.

CTK's now ex-Fokker 100 in happier times.

Switzerland's CH-Aviation reports that the aircraft has already been ferried from Accra to Europe where it is currently operating a short term ACMI contract on behalf of a Slovak client.

As competition on Ghana's domestic and regional routes heats up,  and with fares being slashed to as low as GH₵50 (USD25) for a one way flight from Accra to Kumasi - a flight that usually costs GH₵100 (USD50) - it seems increasingly likely that CTK CiTylinK will be the first casualty in the price war.

► GHANA: See pics of Fly540's just arrived Embraer ERJ-170!

Fly540 Ghana (5G) recently took delivery of their first Embraer ERJ-170 Jet (MSN #4|9G-FLZ) which will be used to supplement their lone ATR 72-500 on their network that currently consists of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale in Ghana. A second 66-seat ATR72-200 is set to join the Fly540 fleet at some stage, though it is uncertain as to which branch of Fly540 (Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya or Angola) it will go.

Fly540 Ghana Embraer ERJ-170 Jet (9G-FLZ) (BK Bishop)

In related news, Fly540's parent company, FastJet, reported a 48% rise in passenger numbers in July compared with the same month last year translating into 60,367 customers flown whilst aircraft capacity utilisation stood at 65%.

FastJet is scheduled to take delivery of the first leased 156-seat Airbus A319 in either September or October with hopes of starting service from November onwards. Once the brand has settled and become profitable the Fly540 brand is then to be phased out.