I’m always looking to review new experiences, so I’m especially excited when I hear about new airlines that are in development. For example, I’ve been saving up money since before I was born to be on the inaugural Baltia flight. I can’t wait.
Perhaps even more mysterious than Baltia is Global Ghana Airlines — you can check out their website at flygga.com. Apparently they plan on launching 3x weekly flights between Chicago and Accra, Ghana, as of November 1, 2017.
Tickets for the flight are already bookable on their website, and they have some great premium cabin fares. “Family Class” is $577 one-way, “Royal Class” is $627 one-way, and “First Class” is $652 one-way. At that price, I think just about anyone would spring for first class. Then again, there are no indications on the website of what the difference between the cabins is.
Based on the seatmap on their website, it looks to me like they’ll be operating a 767… or something.
And you can go all the way to the booking page (I didn’t try to enter my credit card information, because I sort of feel like I might as well pay via Western Union wire transfer).
There’s only one slight problem. There’s basically nothing about the airline online. I stumbled upon this on airliners.net, but that’s just about the only place where this is talked about. Currently the airline doesn’t operate any flights, they don’t own a plane, they don’t have an operating certificate, etc. I have to wonder if they’re even legally allowed to sell tickets on this flight when they haven’t filed with the FAA or DOT to request permission as far as I can tell.
But they do have a website, and a logo that looks pretty cool.
On their “about us” page, the only person listed under “leadership” is GGA’s “general manager,” who apparently runs an aeronautics training institute and is an aviation consultant for the Chicago Public School system.
I think it goes without saying that something seems a bit off here… does anyone have an idea of what’s going on?
Johnnie being very careful not to touch on the fact that they are and have been selling tickets for flights on days there have been no flights given he admits the inaugural flight has yet to take place.
If not a scam, their general behaviour is so scam-worthy & unprofessional that they should be essentially treated as such. How they expected to be trusted after continuously posting lies and selling tickets when they've no license or aircraft is beyond me.
All -
Good afternoon and thanks for all the feedback and I want to assure you all that we understand the concern you've expressed. First off - we are very real and will be flying Chicago O'Hare to Accra. To address some of the questions raised:
• Sister City International is the parent company of Global Ghana Airlines.
• We are currently leasing operating space at 5923 S. Central Ave. Chicago, IL 60638.
...
All -
Good afternoon and thanks for all the feedback and I want to assure you all that we understand the concern you've expressed. First off - we are very real and will be flying Chicago O'Hare to Accra. To address some of the questions raised:
• Sister City International is the parent company of Global Ghana Airlines.
• We are currently leasing operating space at 5923 S. Central Ave. Chicago, IL 60638.
• We are negotiating the final terms of our aircraft lease with Boeing.
• Our seating chart was not prepared internally but will be reviewed.
• Our website was also created by a 3rd party and, while we certainly made every effort to review all content, it seems that we may have overlooked at least 1 spelling error; this will be corrected.
We have been building this airline for 3 years now and there is no simple route to 'getting our first flight off the ground.' At times it seems we are pushing a boulder up a mountain so I apologize for not responding to every comment as they come in.
I applaud the enthusiasm for this new service and understand the skepticism – I would kindly just ask that you please be patient and not too quick to arrive at an absolute conclusion as we continue to strive to complete all the last minute details and plan for all logistics to launch our inaugural flight. We will, in fact, be launching this service as announced.
Very respectfully,
Johnnie O’Toole
Founder and Managing Director
So, I searched the image of Johnie on their website on Google Images search, and I found nothing.
But wikipedia said Ghana International Airlines DID actually exist, but they suspended their operation on 2010.
Be careful about this airline, I spoke with a guy who was recruited to be their mechanic. they wanted him to relocate from Chicago to Ghana for low wages and initially the flight was to be on a B757 with no concrete proof of their license to operate. The mechanic was wondering why they never began to purchase any ground equipment, tools, parts or anything vital to sustain any type of flights. something just does not smell right.
Where's Sean M when you need him
I'm more interested in what this role as aviation consultant for the school system entails
By the way, that seat map looks like a piece of code taken directly from Seatguru, except the rows are all messed up and window seats actually appear outside of the fuselage. I'd guess they scraped a random 757 seat map and maybe added a couple of seats toward the back, but it's clearly not a real thing.
Better yet they are offering on their FB page a contest to share and like the page. 10 free tickets awarded on September 29th. Given they only have 303 page likes thus far your odds of winning are not bad. That is if you like winning tickets on a non-registered airline with no plane and a seating chart that appears to be not even close to anything possible as a sensible business plan. But, oh...
Better yet they are offering on their FB page a contest to share and like the page. 10 free tickets awarded on September 29th. Given they only have 303 page likes thus far your odds of winning are not bad. That is if you like winning tickets on a non-registered airline with no plane and a seating chart that appears to be not even close to anything possible as a sensible business plan. But, oh wait, that attractive offer of First Class for just $100 above coach is luring me in. It's so tempting to just buy a ticket and show up at the airport on November 1st for the inaugural flight and watch the look on people's faces as you ask where the check-in counter is.
Lucky, take one for the team. Buy a ticket and let's see what happens.
Love the bio - "McDonald Douglas"....?
It's clearly a scam and you should make that clear in your post so that the more gullible aren't tricked by it. You blogging about it can inadvertently give some credibility to this scam.
This is a scam!
You know this is fraudulent right? Just like those emails you get from the treasury department of Ghana that says your "cousin" left you $15,000,000?
..
Am I the only one who thinks this is some sort of scam?
Their international and Ghanian contact numbers are all US numbers with hardly any difference in the digits. If they were based in Ghana why wouldn't they have a local number?
I'm from ghana and i can trll you this is a scam.They are trying to get your credit card info nd then thats that.
@Jesse I think that ex-Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER is going to "Zimbabwe Airways", the successor to the ailing Air Zimbabwe.
Additionally, there seems to be some news about GGA from ch-aviation, although unfortunately it is subscribers only. Heres the link if any body is interested:
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/58911-global-ghana-airlines-eyes-us-ghana-flights-from-4q17
I agree, this is a bit off, unless they're talking about early frame 788.
I'll be more worried about my money, though.
At least Baltia had an airplane at one stage...
Let's go to ACC! --- said no one ever -- save maybe fellow blogger, Matthew!
Here's an unconventional thought on the seat map. What if the empty space in the centre row, that looks like a third aisle is, in fact, a blocked middle seat. Similar to euro business. Perhaps that's the royal class offering, a blocked middle seat, enhanced cabin services etc. I could be totally wrong, as this is all speculation, and it simply could just be a flexible fare. Certainly interesting.
Doesn't make sense. They can't make money like that.
Back to the drawing board.
I forgot to include it in my above post but the whole thing does look like a joke. They also list "Sister Cities International Airlines" as their parent company. SCIA lists their address as 5923 S. Central Ave in Chicago, which is the location of Executive Jet Management (EJM), a wholly owned subsidiary of NetJets and a very real operation.
Unsurprisingly, neither SCIA or GGA are listed as business partners of EJM. Who knows, maybe...
I forgot to include it in my above post but the whole thing does look like a joke. They also list "Sister Cities International Airlines" as their parent company. SCIA lists their address as 5923 S. Central Ave in Chicago, which is the location of Executive Jet Management (EJM), a wholly owned subsidiary of NetJets and a very real operation.
Unsurprisingly, neither SCIA or GGA are listed as business partners of EJM. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's all on the up-and-up, they share the building with EJM, and I'v done bad homework, but it don't smell right at this time. :P
ACC-ORD is just barely within the range - on paper - of a 763ER. I'm sure it could easily do it Eastbound. Westbound......... not so much. ACC is essentially at sea level but they would probably incur heat related load penalties on occasion, although it is a relatively temperate city. It would make sense if they made a Westbound tech stop someplace like DKR or JFK.
The 762ER would be slightly more practical (again on...
ACC-ORD is just barely within the range - on paper - of a 763ER. I'm sure it could easily do it Eastbound. Westbound......... not so much. ACC is essentially at sea level but they would probably incur heat related load penalties on occasion, although it is a relatively temperate city. It would make sense if they made a Westbound tech stop someplace like DKR or JFK.
The 762ER would be slightly more practical (again on paper), and there are probably some examples recently retired and stored from the likes of AC, DL, even AA that could possibly be returned to operable condition, but it is pretty hard to believe that's the route they would take.
Wait, I remember seeing an ex Malaysia 777-200 (or some other airline) re painted into this livery somewhere on the internet, I'll try source it. But it definitely was a 777! I'm just not 100% sure it was for this company...
Caveat emptor
It's interesting, despite the name their FB/Linked In pages indicate the airline is headquartered in the US. Wonder what flag they actually plan to fly under or if they just plan to wet lease a plane.
This looks a little promising. So long as the government (who is also trying to start a national airline at the moment) is out of it, it looks good.
I hope it works out! So many Ghanaians fly to Chicago and it would be so helpful!
Looks like there are 3 aisles in the cabin.
Nice but kinda weird.
Can a 767 fly that far?