Delta Flight N195DN is barred from flying to Ghana.
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has prohibited Delta Airlines flight N195DN from flying to Ghana.
The Authority stated that the decision was made due to the airline company's failure to investigate and address technical issues with the aircraft in question, which stranded several Accra-bound passengers, including Ghanaians, at JFK airport on July 24, 2022.
In a letter dated August 19, 2022 and addressed to Delta Airlines' "Accountable Manager," the GCAA stated, "following the events of August 13 2022, when your aircraft with registration N195DN was forced to return to the gate due to a technical problem, a team of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) inspectors were tasked to conduct an investigation on the circumstances surrounding this occurrence."
"The investigation revealed that:
1. The crew reported a fuel imbalance issue with the left main tank.
2. The inbound crew experienced this same issue on the flight leg to Accra, i.e. on July 31 2022.
3 This was the same aircraft that had to return to JKF on July 25 2022, a few hours after take-off from JFK, and which was widely reported on in various media outlets.
"It was expected that after such a negative reportage, Delta Air Lines would have thoroughly investigated the issue to arrive at the root cause of the failure before dispatching the aircraft on flights. Rather, the aircraft was flown within the United States a number of times and then dispatched again to Accra, only for the problem to reoccur.
"The Authority finds this unacceptable. Therefore, with immediate effect, Delta Air Lines is being advised not to dispatch the B767-332 with registration number N195DN for flights to Accra. As your ageing 0767 fleets are of much concern to Ghanaian travellers, Delta Air Lines must put in place a plan to change the type of aircraft on the JFK-ACC-JFK route as soon as practicable. Kindly communicate this date to the undersigned in your response. Please be advised accordingly," the letter signed by Charles Kraikue, Director-General, GCAA, concluded.
Seven passengers, including an American and the Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, recently petitioned the US Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Office regarding Delta Air Lines Incorporated's conduct.
They complained that their flight from the United States was mysteriously delayed on July 24.
The flight was then rescheduled, cancelled, and rescheduled several times with no sleep arrangements for passengers.
According to the complainants, this inconvenience was caused by the "flimsy ground that one of its pilots had not reported for work."
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