Business
British entrepreneur to invest $500 million in low cost West Africa airline
Stelios Haji-Ioannou. PHOTO/ThisisMONEY.co.uk
Africa becoming a more attractive investment destination.
Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of discount carrier EasyJet Plc, plans to invest US$500 million in a low-cost African airline with Ghana’s capital, Accra, as its regional hub.
“We could link Ghana to 10 or 15 different countries in West Africa,” said Ed Winter, former chief operating officer of EasyJet and a member of the management team of Stelios, who goes by his first name. They are in Ghana to conduct studies into starting the airline, he said in an interview in Accra Feb. 20. “We are looking at 15 aircraft with an investment value of US$500 million.”
Ghana’s economy, the second-biggest in West Africa at US$31 billion, has attracted interest from airlines since the 2007 discovery of oil for export at the Jubilee field. United Airlines and Turkish Airlines began flights in 2010, while TAP of Portugal started flying last year.