An aerospace expert Dr. Akparibo Yakubu has debunked claims by Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul that the existing Presidential Jet has, for so long, not been in good shape hence the President’s decision to use a rented private Jet.
Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul in answering questions in Parliament explained that the country’s Presidential Jet, Falcon 900 is not fit to transport the President and his entourage on a national duty. According to him, this was the reason why President Akufo Addo had to rent the Airbus ACJ320neo from UK Company Acropolis Aviation at the conservative estimate of US$ 15,000 per hour for nine days.
The gold-plated aircraft is said to have an on-board bathroom and king-sized bed for President Akufo Addo’s traveling pleasure.
However, Dr Yakubu told Accra-based JoyNews that there was no reasonable justification about the ability of the presidential Jet Falcon 900 to travel for long hours, adding that the Falcon 900 is capable of travelling to Europe and back.
“The current presidential jet, the Falcon 900 can make such a trip. I don’t know why the President didn’t use it. And I don’t know if it had technical issues like they had a problem in Washington before. But if not, [then] that aircraft can make such a trip. If you look at the range of the Falcon 900, it’s about 4000 miles for the aircraft to fly without stopping to refuel,” Dr. Yakubu said.
He believed that with the distance of Accra to Paris and back, “you can do that with the Falcon 900 without stopping to refuel. So our current presidential jet can make such a trip. To go to Europe with that aircraft, you don’t have to stop to refuel because, as I said, the range of the aircraft is about 4,400 miles.”
The Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul in one of his justifications, claimed that the president’s safety and the aircraft’s capacity were paramount hence the reasons for hiring the multi-million cedi Airbus ACJ320neo.
He said “The choice to travel by road, by air or by sea, is a national security imperative and have reason to release the aircraft this particular aircraft to VVIP including ex-presidents to carry out national duties. These VVIPs or Presidential travels is not about aircraft type or even about cost; it’s all about safety,” Nitiwul had stated.
But Dr Yakubu insisted that the arguments are flawed, adding that “as far as I’m concern, the Falcon 900 Jet is in good condition and can do the same range as reported by the Defence Minister. If the issue is technical as it one time happened in Washington before, let’s work on it to save money”.
