Authorities in Ghana recently banned one specific Delta Boeing 767 from flying to Accra, because the plane had issues on several flights in a short timeframe. Authorities are now looking to take even further measures against airlines.
In this post:
Ghana to ban airlines from flying older planes
Charles Kraikue, the Director General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), has revealed that the organization is currently working on a new directive that would impose an age limit for commercial planes flying to Ghana:
“Following persistent complaints from passengers, we will soon bring out a new directive that will stop airlines from using overage aircraft in the country’s airspace. Under the new regime, the proposed ceiling for commercial aircraft to be deployed to Accra is 20 years. This is part of a bundle of measures designed to ensure that aircraft on the Accra route are fit for purpose.”
Kraikue acknowledges that the age of a plane doesn’t impact whether or not it’s safe, but he does believe that there’s a correlation between aircraft age and complaints from passengers:
“If the proper maintenance procedures are followed, chronological age is not a limitation, but the directive has become necessary due to recent periodic complaints and dissatisfaction from passengers.”
This is… nonsensical?
In fairness, Ghana isn’t the first country to consider imposing a limit on the age of commercial aircraft. That doesn’t make it any less absurd, though.
Yes, Delta’s 25 year old Boeing 767-300 with the registration code N195DN seems like it could use a close inspection, based on the number of issues it had in a short period. In that sense perhaps Ghana isn’t too far off.
But correlation does not equal causation. Just because one older plane had issues doesn’t mean all old planes have issues. If old planes are well maintained, they’re at least as safe as new planes. For example, look at the Boeing 737 MAX a few years back — it was supposed to be the most modern and cutting edge jet, yet two of the planes crashed just months apart.
What this really seems to come down to is that much of the public in Ghana perceives that airlines send “inferior” planes to the country, and government officials are trying to seem like they’re addressing those concerns.
It’s not that different than when British Airways wanted to swap its Accra flight from London Heathrow to London Gatwick, but authorities in Ghana decided to take reciprocal action, as they perceived the flight was being moved to London’s less prestigious airport. That strategy worked, as British Airways backtracked.
Do airlines send “inferior” planes to Ghana? It depends how you define it, but yes and no. When it comes to long haul demand, Accra is certainly viable for many airlines, but it’s not as high demand as a place like New York, London, or Singapore. Emirates sends a 777 to Accra, not an A380 (just as it does to destinations around the globe). Delta sends a 767 to Accra, not an A350 (just as it does to all kinds of destinations in Europe, South America, etc.). That’s not out of disrespect to Ghana, but rather so that supply can best match demand.
I’m curious to see if something actually comes of this…
Bottom line
Ghana is threatening to ban airlines from flying 20+ year old aircraft to the country. This follows a situation where a Delta Boeing 767 had multiple maintenance issues on flights to & from Ghana, which ended up going viral.
While authorities acknowledge that older planes can be safe, this seems to come down to an attempt to reduce the number of complaints from passengers.
What do you make of Ghana’s threat to ban old planes?
I would say overall anyone who has flown a western airline too parts of Africa, these airlines do often send their worst and oldest planes and yes they are often in poor condition. British Airways is well known amongst African diaspora here in Britain for sending planes in a bit of a state and it honestly does feel like racism and also placing these countries of not deserving of the best aircraft. It's not to...
I would say overall anyone who has flown a western airline too parts of Africa, these airlines do often send their worst and oldest planes and yes they are often in poor condition. British Airways is well known amongst African diaspora here in Britain for sending planes in a bit of a state and it honestly does feel like racism and also placing these countries of not deserving of the best aircraft. It's not to do with capacity of planes imo. It's also one of the reasons why Emirates started to do so well in these markets in the early days.
It is extremely important that Ghanaians get the best out of their country's good measures and state agencies measures within and outside. If Ghanaians have complained about inefficiency and other issues relating to some specific flights, then the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority must address those issues and concerns. Even if it includes banning old planes coming Ghana so be it. This is not silly. I applaud the decision taken.
Rev George Sarfo-Duah
Let's flip it - send planes more than 20 years in service to destinations in Europe or North America. Send newer fleet to destinations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. What is good for the goose is good for the gander!
Delta airlines is still flying 767 air craft JFK Amsterdam Schiphol,even this summer,so far as the maintenance is in the good shape,I see nothing wrong, because the 767's models is just air( tractor), have less problems like the old 737 from the year 90's
would be funny if they just pulled the flights and didnt bother going to the backwater. see how they like that lol
Accra, Ghana is a "backwater"? Only Western countries are relevant in your view? You are clearly ignorant or just displaying your racism.
They are taking too long. You should experience the BA aircraft that useful ply the Accra route. Rickety
Delta airlines has no respect for African countries, I flew delta airlines from Ghana to jfk . When the engines were started one could smell the fumes inside the plane .. I personally spoke couple of the flights attendants and they told me that the aircrafts is too old which happened to be B767-300 so I stopped flying delta too risky ..
With reference to your headline,
Why is it "Silly " to ban old planes, that are a potential safety hazard to the country ? Rather, it would be " silly" not to band old rickety planes from our skies.
The authorities in Ghana should go ahead with this and not wait any longer.
Ben why are you saying the government policy is silly? Are you telling Ghana a sovereign nation like your country that it should not be sensitive to the crises and aspirations of it's people? How long did it take you to write your piece? It is not as simple as that, we have suffered from these airlines for long in the way they treat us. Last year we spent over 17 hours at an airport...
Ben why are you saying the government policy is silly? Are you telling Ghana a sovereign nation like your country that it should not be sensitive to the crises and aspirations of it's people? How long did it take you to write your piece? It is not as simple as that, we have suffered from these airlines for long in the way they treat us. Last year we spent over 17 hours at an airport for an airline to provide us a plane to travel from London and all they told us was they detected massive infestation on the supposed plane they had earmarked. It is easier for you sitting in the comfort of your office to write what you wrote and call it: Nonsensical and silly but the truth of the matter is, we are not afforded the same treatment as people like you,even though our expenditure on Air travel far outweigh those of you in Europe.
I actually hope some countries do this. Singapore? or HK perhaps? At least on passenger airliner?
SG have 10 years limit on a car COE. Same should goes with airline. Design life has nothing to do with it. Only money.
Action needed ASAP by the authorities in the aviation sector especially a ban on BRITISH AIRWAYS.
It's probably as silly (or serious) as banning Russian commercial carriers.
Any government can be a political bully.
Delta is just getting a taste of their regulators own medicine in Ghana.
The Authorities in Ghana have a point.
Think back to the times before American retired all their Super 80s.
If AA consistently sent only those Super 80s to a state, while the planes are still trusted to be safe due to FAA safety requirements, they are very unreliable.
( https://onemileatatime.com/american-md80-retirement/ ) is it not right for, say, the state AG to say something after their state’s consumer are consistently treated worse than...
The Authorities in Ghana have a point.
Think back to the times before American retired all their Super 80s.
If AA consistently sent only those Super 80s to a state, while the planes are still trusted to be safe due to FAA safety requirements, they are very unreliable.
( https://onemileatatime.com/american-md80-retirement/ ) is it not right for, say, the state AG to say something after their state’s consumer are consistently treated worse than other states’ consumers following consumer complaints?
In fact people should be mindful to their speeches how can someone wrote such a disrespectful headline in a very important critical issue like this,We Africans also deserve our right and safety too in the end we all suffered before we got our money to travel therefore when it come to safely we are all humans,No country is better than each other,so I think the the aviation director did owesom job,the delta airlines are very...
In fact people should be mindful to their speeches how can someone wrote such a disrespectful headline in a very important critical issue like this,We Africans also deserve our right and safety too in the end we all suffered before we got our money to travel therefore when it come to safely we are all humans,No country is better than each other,so I think the the aviation director did owesom job,the delta airlines are very disrespectful when it comes to the New York Accra route
that plane is toooooo old
Your comments are ignoring one simple fact, which is, mile for mile, Africans are charged higher fares than most, and as such, they deserve some of the best an airline has to offer.
While Emirates does fly a 777 to Accra instead of the A380, they offer a similar product throughout their fleet. The bottom line is, Delta has little competition in terms of nonstop flights between the US and West Africa, and as...
Your comments are ignoring one simple fact, which is, mile for mile, Africans are charged higher fares than most, and as such, they deserve some of the best an airline has to offer.
While Emirates does fly a 777 to Accra instead of the A380, they offer a similar product throughout their fleet. The bottom line is, Delta has little competition in terms of nonstop flights between the US and West Africa, and as such feel no need to offer some of their best products.
The same pattern exists in terms of the equipment that they operate to
South America. They fly their most inferior aircraft to those markets too, and people notice.
It's a more common practice than you think. All the western airlines do it. Delta, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, etc. Africans especially notice the glaring difference when they board connecting flights, say, between Europe and North America.
When they fly the Middle East airlines, there's less decline in the service and the product.
If we want better, we have to demand it, so I hope other large African markets such as Lagos Nairobi start to demand the same.
care to document your statement with facts, please?
Sorry, but most of what you said about fleet structure is wrong. Emirates 777s cabins are inferior in every way to their A380 cabins. Economy has less legroom, Business is not direct aisle access or fully flat, and First Class lacks the shower suite. This doesn't stop Emirates from flying to the US and Europe with those aircraft. Delta are not flying aircraft with inferior cabins to Africa. The 767 has the same long haul...
Sorry, but most of what you said about fleet structure is wrong. Emirates 777s cabins are inferior in every way to their A380 cabins. Economy has less legroom, Business is not direct aisle access or fully flat, and First Class lacks the shower suite. This doesn't stop Emirates from flying to the US and Europe with those aircraft. Delta are not flying aircraft with inferior cabins to Africa. The 767 has the same long haul product that Delta has on most of their fleet. I have no idea what you think Delta's "best product" is. Currently only Delta's 767-400s, A330-900 and A350s feature a product different to what is offered on the 767-300. Delta aren't flying their A350 to Africa, because there is no demand to fill the airplane. These aircraft are a tiny portion of Delta's fleet. The fact of the matter is the 767-400s are needed where demand for Business Class seats are high, and the A339 and A350 are needed on flights that cover distances far greater than any of Delta's African routes. Lufthansa's widebodies all have an identical product. I have no idea how it is possible for them to fly an inferior aircraft to Africa when all of their aircraft are currently fitted with the exact same cabin in all classes of service. The closest thing to an "inferior" aircraft is the 747-400 which still has middle seats in some rows in Business Class, and that aircraft is currently most utilized in North America.
Some countries have issues with what they see as a "prestige" issues. It can be not having reciprocal visa free travel to US, or not providing "premium" enough first/business class, or in this case not using newer planes.
As you alluded to in your reporting; this is more to reduce compliant and get Delta to do something. The plan Delta brings to Ghana is feudal in the interior and it really needs to be maintained properly. I am all for this directive if it will push for the airlines to wake up and do something. The revenue generated from these flight legs are cushy.
Noticed the garbage UA 767 landing today minus the panel that fell off the bottom?
Yeah, we noticed.
Breaking Aviation News & Videos: "United Airlines 767 loses a underside panel on departure from Newark Airport in New Jersey. The pilots heard a loud bang but continued to Dublin for a safe landing. The aircraft is still on the ground in Dublin about 49 hours after arrival."
This is pretty standard West African politics - they always have a chip on their shoulder about being disrespected, etc. What they never seem to notice is, that's just how US air carriers work! They disrespect everybody.
A few years ago, Delta did a "feature" on their news hub where they "followed" a particular 767-300ER around for a week. It was not coincidental that the first leg they had was Lagos - followed by London,...
This is pretty standard West African politics - they always have a chip on their shoulder about being disrespected, etc. What they never seem to notice is, that's just how US air carriers work! They disrespect everybody.
A few years ago, Delta did a "feature" on their news hub where they "followed" a particular 767-300ER around for a week. It was not coincidental that the first leg they had was Lagos - followed by London, Haneda, and some other European destination. Soas to "show" that they were using the same plane that goes everywhere else in the world.
If I were Delta, I would schedule the aircraft that makes the most economic sense for the route, fares, etc.
Beyond that, I would use the oldest craft of those into a 3rd World market like Ghana, because frankly, dumb stuff happens in 3rd World markets more often and better to a 20+ year hull than year old hull. That is the truth,
Good point Brandon Biden. I think that's a standard thinking of people with that kind of stop the steal mentality.
Spoken like a true Trump supporter!
Considering the Accra JFK route is one of the lucrative routes for Delta airlines, Ghanaians deserve better. The route was $3000 economy this summer. Kindly check and see.
Been to Ghana so many times in past decade. Most of the times on ET or KQ and only on KLM.
By far, ET rotates ADD ACC either on B787 or A350. A350 is best bet of ET for ACC.
Never been on ME3 to Accra. But always heard from colleagues EK sends older planes to ACC and LOS.
EK does schedule planes on routes based on age, but more often it is to put newer aircraft on more premium routes or routes where there is more competition and more customers to be captured. By sending a newer jet, EK shows a stronger product and helps to win over customers who may not be loyal to Emirates and may become loyal if they have a good experience. An example of this is LHR, where...
EK does schedule planes on routes based on age, but more often it is to put newer aircraft on more premium routes or routes where there is more competition and more customers to be captured. By sending a newer jet, EK shows a stronger product and helps to win over customers who may not be loyal to Emirates and may become loyal if they have a good experience. An example of this is LHR, where there is a lot of competition and EK has a big market with many potential customers who have more disposable income which it can capture.
As a result, EK ends up sending its older jets to cities where the age of the plane will likely not cause customers to change their choice. Some of EK's older 777s also had more seats which was needed on routes to certain destinations with high Economy class demand (such as India), which is why those were used on certain exclusive routes.
It just comes down to where sending a newer jet will be most beneficial. Qatar also sends its newer A350-1000s to its most premium destinations (a large number is used to the U.S.). However, most of its fleet is relatively new, and because of how it banks its U.S. flights, these planes have downtime where Qatar can send them to Pakistan, India, and other regional routes without it costing them anything else.
@JB
None of that is actually true, as EK doesn't always place their newest product in their newest jets, nor on their most premium routes. A great example would be the 77Ws with the new F seats, where they prioritize turnaround capability more than anything else.
Not that the overwhelming majority of the public would know that either way.
Let's not forget that Delta has been pushing Boeing for years to develop a replacement for the longhaul 757 and 767. Airbus took a big chunk of the 757 market with the A321NEO. Delta and United both have similarly sized fleets of 767s - both -300ERs and 400s - because there is no viable replacement. Both DL and UA's fleet is of similar age.
DL and UA's African networks are heavily built around African immigrants...
Let's not forget that Delta has been pushing Boeing for years to develop a replacement for the longhaul 757 and 767. Airbus took a big chunk of the 757 market with the A321NEO. Delta and United both have similarly sized fleets of 767s - both -300ERs and 400s - because there is no viable replacement. Both DL and UA's fleet is of similar age.
DL and UA's African networks are heavily built around African immigrants to the US returning to their homeland as well as the small amount of business traffic. The economy in those countries is not the market. Yields to Africa are much higher than to Latin America or Europe. There is a market.
DL could put its A330-200s which are roughly equivalent in size to the 767-400ERs, so larger than the 767-300ERs that DL uses for its western Africa flights. Whether they choose to allow countries to start telling them what they can fly there or simply pull the service if Ghana pushes the issue remains to be seen.
As with S. Africa, the best path forward might to let the State Dept. intervene; they might be capable of letting Ghana know that their overall financial interests are not served by going down the path Ghana apparently wants to take.
The 787-8 is pretty darn close to the 767 capacity, DL just refused to buy any.
US airlines report their costs by fleet type to the DOT and the data shows that cost per seat mile of the 787-8 is as high as the 767-300ER. The fuel cost savings of the 787-8 is not near as high on 4000 mile flights because of the winglets on the 767-300ER. Add in the much higher acquisition costs of the 787 compared to the paid-for 767s and the economics are not in favor of...
US airlines report their costs by fleet type to the DOT and the data shows that cost per seat mile of the 787-8 is as high as the 767-300ER. The fuel cost savings of the 787-8 is not near as high on 4000 mile flights because of the winglets on the 767-300ER. Add in the much higher acquisition costs of the 787 compared to the paid-for 767s and the economics are not in favor of replacing 767s with 787s. The 787-8 weighs tens of thousands of pounds more than the 767 because the 787 wing was designed for very long haul flights.
The 787's sweet spot is the 787-9 which has the range and size but it is still not the most cost-effective aircraft for transatlantic flights.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the 767-400 has the lowest operating costs per seat for US aircraft under 250 seats and the A330-300 has the lowest operating costs for 250-300 seat flights, both under 4500 miles.
@albert
"Just refused," eh? Gee, how odd that they might not want to try to replace a paid off 187 tonne 763ER with a 228 tonne aircraft in many markets......
Had to look - median income in Ghana is $2,422. Recent ticket prices between JFK and ACC on Delta are $1,597 or 66% of the average Ghanaian's annual wages. I don't have direct insight into Delta's revenue model, but I'm guessing this route isn't one of their most profitable.
Please check, it was $3000 for economy this summer. It's one of their most lucrative routes.
I did check and it's about $2000 in the next few days and quickly falls to about $1300-$1500 two weeks out. And these are the prices for JFK-ACC return; the reverse direction is slightly cheaper.
Even connecting flights from random places in the US are well under $2000 when booking two weeks out or more. That's really nothing out of the ordinary.
Not all fares are €3000. There are multiple booking classes and it depends on origin, destination and married segment logic. If you checked and found that rate, it’s because all the lower ones had gone as the flight was quite full. This is what people say when they won’t fly a certain airline as it’s “ expensive”. It’s most likely because the flight is full as they are more popular. Other airlines are “ cheaper”...
Not all fares are €3000. There are multiple booking classes and it depends on origin, destination and married segment logic. If you checked and found that rate, it’s because all the lower ones had gone as the flight was quite full. This is what people say when they won’t fly a certain airline as it’s “ expensive”. It’s most likely because the flight is full as they are more popular. Other airlines are “ cheaper” as they aren’t as busy. It’s also true many carriers won’t send premium aircraft to certain countries due to market conditions.
There are many considerations when an airline assigns a plane type to a route. Capacity is one, revenue is another, but so too is competition. If it's a route that doesn't have demand for the biggest jet, doesn't command major ticket prices due to limited high-rev business travelers and doesn't face a lot of competition for the route of course it's not going to get the carrier's largest and/or flagship aircraft.
DELTA HAS THE OLDEST FLEET IN THE INDUSTRY!
ITS LIKE PUTTING LIPSTICK ON A PIG!
@john luffred
Your ignorance is louder than the caps with which you type it. For the year ending 2021, DL's average fleet age was 14yrs, UA's was 17.1yrs, and G4's (Allegiant's) was 19.8yrs.
So how exactly did you reach the conclusion of "oldest fleet in the industry" when they're not even the oldest, nor second oldest, in their own country....
“Emirates sends a 777 instead of an a380 and delta sends a 767 instead of an A350” Ghana isn’t asking for higher capacity planes. They are asking for newer ones. This reminds me of the emirates 777 crash in Dubai. It was an old -300 arriving from India, and it came out that Emirates purposely schedules older aircraft onto routes to ‘third word’ destinations. Not anything to do with safety, but because the markets are...
“Emirates sends a 777 instead of an a380 and delta sends a 767 instead of an A350” Ghana isn’t asking for higher capacity planes. They are asking for newer ones. This reminds me of the emirates 777 crash in Dubai. It was an old -300 arriving from India, and it came out that Emirates purposely schedules older aircraft onto routes to ‘third word’ destinations. Not anything to do with safety, but because the markets are less premium, don’t matter to them as much, and they subtly believe that people from third world countries have never seen a plane before, they put less effort into pleasing their passengers.
@ Bruce -- I get that, but the issue is that Delta's lower capacity long haul jets also happen to be the older ones.
And you're absolutely right that Emirates intentionally schedules older 777s on some routes. But it's not just to India, or places where Emirates believes people "have never seen a plane before."
Actually, I know for a fact that Emirates intentionally schedules its older 777s on the Dubai to Newark via Athens...
@ Bruce -- I get that, but the issue is that Delta's lower capacity long haul jets also happen to be the older ones.
And you're absolutely right that Emirates intentionally schedules older 777s on some routes. But it's not just to India, or places where Emirates believes people "have never seen a plane before."
Actually, I know for a fact that Emirates intentionally schedules its older 777s on the Dubai to Newark via Athens route. While there are some exceptions, more often than not the route gets 12+ year old 777s, among the oldest in the fleet.
How was that decision made? I don't know. I'd assume it's based on yields, or something. But it's not because they think people in Newark have never seen a plane before.
I mean, Newark Airport may as well be considered 3rd world lol
Emirates 777-300s had a higher seat count than other newer 777-300ER's. They sent them to certain destinations such as secondary cities in India because their is a significant Economy Class demand but perhaps not enough to justify an additional flight. Also, tickets to India on EK are relatively cheap so it is beneficial for them to have more paying customers on board to cities such as where the EK 777 that crashed came from (since...
Emirates 777-300s had a higher seat count than other newer 777-300ER's. They sent them to certain destinations such as secondary cities in India because their is a significant Economy Class demand but perhaps not enough to justify an additional flight. Also, tickets to India on EK are relatively cheap so it is beneficial for them to have more paying customers on board to cities such as where the EK 777 that crashed came from (since the tickets were likely only paying for fuel).
Yeah I’d agree with Ben. Actually Emirates regularly scheduled their A380 to Mumbai until very recently because there was enough yield to support the addition given business and connecting traffic. Also, UA scheduled 77W on India routes (60 Polaris seats daily) year round until the pandemic. It’s really a function of economics. I don’t know why third or second or first world would matter for a commercial airline.
Emirates flew an old -300 to India because the old -300s have a much shorter range than the -300ERs, and aren't really useful for Emirates's longer routes. Guess which countries fall into the range of the old -300? That's right, developing countries. No conspiracy here
Charles Kraikue is not a fool, but he is a political appointee.
And to be fair, he says in the original interview that they are "consulting with stakeholders" as to the need for a move like this - not that it is actually going forward yet.
If this actually goes forward, it will also wind up grounding about half the aircraft registered in Ghana - which means lost revenue for his own organisation. That is...
Charles Kraikue is not a fool, but he is a political appointee.
And to be fair, he says in the original interview that they are "consulting with stakeholders" as to the need for a move like this - not that it is actually going forward yet.
If this actually goes forward, it will also wind up grounding about half the aircraft registered in Ghana - which means lost revenue for his own organisation. That is likely to be what causes this initiative to quietly die without much further ado.
And the A/C is scheduled to be ferried tomorrow to SEA operating as DL9970.
So I guess it will be looked at closely by Boeing.
Its ferrying to ICN after.
It's going to get the new interior package and upgrades to wifi. The entire fleet is being upgraded. But it can't happen overnight.
I see Ghana would prefer not to be served by international carriers.
They aren’t doing Ghana any favors. Our passengers pay the going price for tickets. You honestly think Delta is doing us a favor? Right. We deserve what we pay for.