Goldstar Air & Liberian Govt to partner in reviving Nat'l Airline
The Government of Liberia (GOL) and Ghanaian carrier Goldstar Air (GSA) have signed a strategic partnership to revive the National Airline of the country. The new national carrier of Liberia has been named and branded as LONE STAR AIR (Wings Of Liberia) and will initially be flying to eleven West African destinations from Monrovia.
The destinations are Accra, Abuja, Lagos, Abidjan, Freetown, Banjul, Conakry, Dakar, Ouagadougou, Bissau and Sao Tome.
Liberian President, Dr. George Manneh Weah, is keen to create more jobs for the citizenry, by reviving the national carrier which ceased trading about 30 years ago in 1990. A statement issued in Monrovia Tuesday said so after some years of consultation President Weah has settled on Goldstar Air management services.
The President, the statement indicated, deems it necessary to initiate plans for a dedicated aviation-driven development, as strategic goal of using it as a driver of social economic transformation and the major objective of Lone Star.
"Air business operations is to attract more visitors to Liberia and in order to achieved this, the marketing strategy will be instituted on the characteristics of the low-cost carriers package and tours operation methodology which has to date been successful in North America and Europe," the statement noted. It said, at a meeting with some of his Ministers of State and Goldstar Air officials before the signing ceremony, the President said the airline will provide the aviation community in Liberia, the opportunity to share and disseminate vital industry information to strengthen and improve the air industry and also linked it to the national development which will create jobs for the youth.
The statement revealed that some of the jobs which the youth will benefit from are Pilots, ground Service Crew, Service Persons in maintenance, Cabin Crew, Counter Agents, Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Country Managers, Stations Managers, Accountants, Flight Dispatchers, Drivers, Marketing Personnel, Air Marshalls, Cargo Agents, Catering Services, Hoteliers, Fuel Suppliers, among others.
The President's aviation ambition is to upgrade the Monrovia Airport by building a Maintenance base (MRO) which will ensure safety and airworthiness of all aircraft by international standards and also a Cargo Village which will maintain a cost effective in-bound and out-bound flow of cargo and third party logistic service provider (E-Station Cargo) with a dedicated transportation chain that will implement and control the efficient flow and storage of goods and service to meet customer's requirements.
Goldstar Air Management Services as part of the joint venture with the country's government will ensure that the right goods, in the right quantities, in the right condition are delivered to the right place at the right time for the right cost, taking into account that our primary focus as a trend-setting airline will be to focus on top quality, short turnaround time and promoting highly competitive prices and ensuring excellent customer service.
The Liberian Transport Minister, Samuel Wlue signed the MOU on behalf of the Government of Liberia, and the Executive Chairman/CEO of Goldstar Air, Mr Eric Alfred Bannerman, signed on behalf of the airline, on October 3, 2020 at the President's Office. Present to grace the occasion were the Liberian Ministers of Information, Eugene Nagbe; Commerce and Industry designate; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mawine Diggs; Maxwell Anafo of E-Station Cargo and Jibiao Ye of E-Station Cargo.
Aviation is crucial to international business, trade and tourism which Liberia and Ghana can both benefit a lot from, as well as both airlines as we stand to widen our destinations by codeshare/interline strategic agreement to boost the west Africa connectivity to the rest of the world, the statement pointed out.
