Mesfin Tasew Bekele, the chief executive officer of Ethiopian Airlines, has counseled the government not to meddle with the operations of the proposed national carrier.

He said that numerous national airlines in Africa have shut down due to government meddling with their operations on a regular basis.

"Once an airline is established, it must be allowed to operate without interruption in order to operate efficiently and control costs.Any airline that does not control its expenses would fail, he said.

He said this in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra last Friday.

Mr Bekele noted that the government needed to bolster the leadership that would run the national airline when it was set up.

The CEO expressed the desire in partnering with the govern­ment to set up a national carrier, saying, “We are ready to support the Ghanaian government in establishing a national carrier but the mode of engagement would need to be evaluated”.

He noted that the airline’s decision to deepen its relationship with Africa and Ghanaians neces­sitated the increase of its weekly flights from Ghana to other parts of the world from seven to 11 flights.

Mr Bekele hinted at further investment into the airline’s cargo operations as it was the second most important business of the airline since it helped it stay afloat while other airlines collapsed globally.

The CEO expressed worry over the delay in the implemen­tation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) proj­ect by the African Union, saying that it would advance the liberali­sation of civil aviation in Africa.

He noted that the delay of the member countries of the AU to push for the implementation of the project fully was “the fear of it crippling the operations of their local airlines, however such excuse was narrow”.

“SAATM would accelerate the development of the air transport industry in Africa, and also the overall growth and prosperity of Africa, I hope African leaders would take practical steps in en­suring the project is fully imple­mented,” Mr Bekele said.