I always like to follow along with the latest airline startups, and try to write about them when I see them. For example, I’ve written about two Ghanian airlines that have supposedly intended to launch operations in the past year or so.
One of them is Goldstar Air, which is a Ghana-based airline that planned to launch flights between Accra and Baltimore in the first quarter of 2017. How could you not want to fly a 777 that looks like this?
The airline had big expansion plans, including setting up hubs in London and the Caribbean (as one does):
Our European hub will be Stansted airport which will service flights going to Accra and the Caribbean, making some pick ups in some European cities before its destination in the Caribbean. Our hub in the Caribbean will service flights to Baltimore and Stansted. whiles the Accra hub services West Africa, Dubai and Guangzhou, Baltimore hub will as well service flights to Accra and the Caribbean.
I can only hope that any pilots they hire have a better understanding of geography than the person who made their routemap, whether you’re looking to fly to Guangzhou, Iraq, or Dakar, South Carolina.
More recently I wrote about Global Ghana Airlines, which was planning on launching 3x weekly flights between Accra and Chicago as of November 1, 2017. They have very reasonable first class fares, so naturally I was intrigued:
The only very minor problem with the airline is that they don’t have a plane, and haven’t requested permission with the relevant authorities to launch the route. But that really is a very minor detail. I also can’t say I’ve been terribly impressed by their responsiveness on their Facebook page.
Well, if you’re like me and were already packing your bags for the inaugural Chicago to Accra flight, there’s some bad news. You’re going to want to sit down, because you guys won’t believe this.
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority posted on their Facebook page indicating that Global Ghana Airways and Goldstar Air’s flights to/from Ghana are “misleading,” and advises the general public not to conduct any business with these companies, as they do not the necessary approvals to commence such operations.
(Tip of the hat to Sean M)
massive contradiction!,on the website of flygoldstar.com at the news section ,there is a picture of the MD for Ghana Civil Aviation presenting license to goldstar executives. can someone explain that?.i still have not get email back from Ghana Civil Aviation authorities .
The front wheel on that fake plane photo is HORRIBLY WRONG....
Don't worry, Lucky. There's a certain segment who always try to see if they can get power over others by calling them names.
They usually try 'racist' first, and if that doesn't work, they move on to homophobe or sexist.
They don't actually mean to help any of the people they're supposedly speaking up for. Rather, a person like "Andy" up there doesn't give a flying f%ck about Africans. He's just out to...
Don't worry, Lucky. There's a certain segment who always try to see if they can get power over others by calling them names.
They usually try 'racist' first, and if that doesn't work, they move on to homophobe or sexist.
They don't actually mean to help any of the people they're supposedly speaking up for. Rather, a person like "Andy" up there doesn't give a flying f%ck about Africans. He's just out to silence you, probably because he's jealous you're a successful blogger with a witty pen.
Keep doing what you're doing. You can't argue with SJWs and you certainly must never - ever - apologize for the non-crimes they accuse you of.
@David S, hilarious!
@ Ken, great comment, thank you. But I understand Andy´s outrage, given the stellar British colonial behavior in Africa.
@Ken. I loved your comment! It is refreshing to see that there are still people who think like you.... Thank you.
It makes a nice change from receiving requests for help for a Ghanaian Prince!
Lucky, you need to book some flights on Nambia Air. Hear they have a great airline.
What a joke. Even if they were to fly, are you kidding me. Who would want to fly them. Aside from dubious "first class" service, can you imagine the maintenance procedures.
While amusing, any sane person would not step foot on this airline.
@DaveS, thank you! :)
Funny!
I think the map was just meant to say nothing more than "We'll go in all directions" - and the general relative compass directions are roughly accurate, given the need for readability, just not the distances. Nobody took the trouble to extend or contract the lines to specific geographical spots, but of course you couldn't do it on a single map then, because the African destinations would be so bunched up as to be illegible....
I think the map was just meant to say nothing more than "We'll go in all directions" - and the general relative compass directions are roughly accurate, given the need for readability, just not the distances. Nobody took the trouble to extend or contract the lines to specific geographical spots, but of course you couldn't do it on a single map then, because the African destinations would be so bunched up as to be illegible. It's not a route map, just a representation of the grandiose imagination of the "airline."
@Andy, I'm a Nigerian....the country notorious for scammers...and I don't find the post racist in any way, not even the comment about the Nigerian lottery is racist, I actually burst out laughing. I also get those mails!!! I sent the post to my Nigerian friends and they also found it funny. Talking about racism, while I believe it exists, I think many of the things labelled as racism is far from it. Some comments/actions may...
@Andy, I'm a Nigerian....the country notorious for scammers...and I don't find the post racist in any way, not even the comment about the Nigerian lottery is racist, I actually burst out laughing. I also get those mails!!! I sent the post to my Nigerian friends and they also found it funny. Talking about racism, while I believe it exists, I think many of the things labelled as racism is far from it. Some comments/actions may be stupid, insensitive etc but not necessarily racist. In fact not all steroeotypes is racism.
Meanwhile that Goldstar air flight from Accra to Lagos looks like a ~4 hr, a good amount of time to try their regional product lol
Love the fact that Guangzhou is apparently in Middle East. Not to mention London and others.
What about the coveted Nigeria - Nambia routes? Have they forgotten about Nambia?
The Ghanian notice states that at least one of the fake airlines is registered in Chicago - I guess that explains their lack of geographical expertise!
Plus, they can't even spell the name of one of their neighbors, Côte d'Ivoire, correctly. If the French and the diacritics proved too confusing they could have just gone with 'Ivery Coste'.
@Andy - they are so what’s your point?
I think I might be more concerned that the Ghana Civ[i]l Aviation Authority can't even spell it's name correctly in the header of their press release.
Can you make another review of Oman Air and Salam Air. Salam Air is a new LCC in Oman.
@David S
Was it the lottery or the dead prince?
That is funky looking B777! That's the first thing I noticed.
@Lukas - And what exactly DO you think that map was meant to represent? While I'm not convinced it was what Lucky assumed, I can't come up with any better explanation.
Wow, who knew Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone are in South America, Guinea in the Caribbean and Gambia in Florida. Just for starters....
@Lukas
London is in the continent now??
@Lucky, the map quite obviously does NOT point to actual locations of the cities they are flying to, though it appears to given that the London location is actually in the correct spot. Many of the destinations are in Africa, so I'm sure they know where their close neighbors actually are.
@Andy. I hope your post was an attempt at humor . . . if not, then you are part of the problem and definitely not the solution. It's a miles and points blog. That's it. Ben is much more tolerant of his critics than many of his readers . . . and I, for one, respect him for that. BTW I've never received an email from Germany claiming I've won the "state" lotto.
~Lee
ATX
@Andy the only time the word African was used anywhere on this page was by you in your post so who is actually the racist?? The entire article was about an airline, not an african airline, not german airline but airline. It didn't turn into an african airline until you decided to take it there. While there are plenty of racist incidents out there one of the things that hinders the fight on racism is...
@Andy the only time the word African was used anywhere on this page was by you in your post so who is actually the racist?? The entire article was about an airline, not an african airline, not german airline but airline. It didn't turn into an african airline until you decided to take it there. While there are plenty of racist incidents out there one of the things that hinders the fight on racism is creating racism where there is none. Anyone with a little bit of introspection and thought would know there was zero racial undertones here.
OMG - That map!
I'm afraid though to understand this level of sarcasm requires a deeper level of thought than the knee-jerk accusations of racism so common these days.
Lucky.... Are you sure you want to come across as such? I'm a Brit, not a West African. I have no links to that region. I have no friends from there, but have been many times to Africa.
You posting such an extremely sarcastic article, saying OHHHH wow, what a shocker Africans are scamming criminals is perhaps a tad offensive to normal citizens? There's probably quite a few...like 100s of millions of them.
Would you...
Lucky.... Are you sure you want to come across as such? I'm a Brit, not a West African. I have no links to that region. I have no friends from there, but have been many times to Africa.
You posting such an extremely sarcastic article, saying OHHHH wow, what a shocker Africans are scamming criminals is perhaps a tad offensive to normal citizens? There's probably quite a few...like 100s of millions of them.
Would you like it if I posted "What a shocker, German people acting like humorless pasty boring robots", or "what a shocker, Americans being ignorant fat rednecks"?
Just wondering.
@ Andy -- I'm sorry you're interpreting it like that, though that's not what I intended. There's no "fake" airline I've called out more than Baltia, which is a US-based airline. My sarcasm here has nothing to do with them being based in West Africa, but rather with a company saying "we're starting longhaul flights in a few weeks" and selling tickets, despite not having a plane and not having asked relevant authorities for permission....
@ Andy -- I'm sorry you're interpreting it like that, though that's not what I intended. There's no "fake" airline I've called out more than Baltia, which is a US-based airline. My sarcasm here has nothing to do with them being based in West Africa, but rather with a company saying "we're starting longhaul flights in a few weeks" and selling tickets, despite not having a plane and not having asked relevant authorities for permission. That's what the sarcasm is based on. And if you read my Baltia stories, you'll see a similar tone.
I was hoping one of these airlines would snag the coveted JFK-Nambia routes.
@ Pete -- ROFLMAO!
They must have hired the leadership team from BALTIA to get things off the ground (pun intended).
@David S. Thats really good one! I can't stop laughing so hard!
Darn! I was going to buy first class tickets for the whole family with my Nigerian lottery winnings.
Lol