The current presidential aircraft, a $37m French-built Dassault Falcon 900EX-Easy, has been in use since 2011. It has served former presidents John Evans Atta-Mills, John Mahama and now Akufo-Addo.
Rumours of plans by the government to purchase a new presidential aircraft started in 2018 when an engine failure forced the plane carrying President Akufo-Addo and his entourage to the UN General Assembly in New York to make an emergency landing at the Washington Dulles Airport.
At the time, information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah insisted that a new aircraft was out of the government’s immediate priorities. However, three years on, the minister for defence, Dominic Nitiwul, is making a strong case for a new and bigger aircraft.
