The following is a statement issued by Antrak Air In response to media reports about Antrak Air flight O4 322-Tamale to Accra. Antrak Air would like to take this opportunity to bring out the facts of the incident. Aircraft are machines and mechanical failure is a possibility. Maintenance and safety is a paramount concern to Antrak Air and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority is stringent on their oversight of all airlines including Ghanaian airlines. In addition, Antrak Air goes further and subject itself to external independent audits as well which are more stringent. The facts as they transpired are as follows: Flight O4 322 from Tamale to Accra boarded 33 passengers and the flight crew went through all normal start up procedures after boarding. On doing so a technical problem developed which the pilots become aware and shutdown the engine. The crew then announced to the passengers to disembark after making a visual inspection on the number 2 engine which was unserviceable and an engineer was needed to rectify the problem. Passengers were not aware the aircraft had developed a technical fault until the crew informed them. It is however regrettable to hear comments from some media houses and passengers but at no point were any life under threat. The aircraft was not about to take off, in fact, it had not even started taxiing and doors were still open, awaiting authorization from the captain. Modern aircraft design are such that there are redundancies built in and they are capable of flying on one engine if need be. All our pilots undergo continuous training twice a year to keep up to date with all safety and emergency procedures under the supervision of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority approved instructors. At no point was an emergency declared and the situation was managed professionally and controlled by the flight crew as they have been trained to do. This has been confirmed in the official statement by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to the press on 23rd May 2012. Maintenance of our aircraft is not done independently, Antrak air has technical partners in France who assist in the maintenance of the aircraft. They are charged with tracking all components on the aircraft and are in constant contact with us and the manufacturer to ensure all maintenance, updates and modifications are done at the right time. Our engineers are all fully licensed ATR engineers with many years experience and have the requisite Qualifications to do line maintenance on the aircraft. The manuals governing the maintenance of the aircraft are all approved by the GCAA and are internationally accepted. We strictly adhere to the guidelines set out in the ATR manufacturers’ maintenance manual. The safety records of Antrak Air over the period has never been compromised and very stringent safety procedures are followed which has enabled us to pass many international safety audits including HART aviation safety audits since inception of the airline to date. To this end, we will state emphatically that, Antrak Air will continue to strive to its value preposition to obtain a total flight comfort! SINGED: MANAGEMENT OF ANTRAK AIR GHANA LIMITED