Ghana’s presidential jet has been in France’s Dassault Falcon Service in Le Bourget, France, for its mandatory 24‑month and 1,600‑flying‑hour inspection since March. Eight months on, the Falcon 900EX EASy with registration number 9G-EXE remains grounded, with new faults discovered each time it is scheduled to be dispatched back home.

Initially scheduled for dispatch in mid-year, the Deputy Minister for Defence Brogya Genfi, during a briefing on the floor of Parliament yesterday, November 6, on the reasons for the delay, noted that new technical faults were discovered while the original fault, that is, a corroded fuel tank, was being fixed.

According to Mr Genfi, “The reported corrosion spots detected within the aircraft’s fuel tanks, which affected the aircraft’s delivery date, have undergone extensive repairs. These corrosion issues in the fuel tanks have since been resolved.”

However, he explained that further inspections revealed new problems that caused additional delays.

“In the course of the inspection, fuel leakages were observed from the right-hand wing tank. Unfortunately, after successfully repairing the section of the wing that experienced the leakages, another challenge was encountered while reinstalling the lower panel beneath the wing,” he told Parliament.

The Deputy Minister said the situation required specialised intervention from the manufacturer.

“Following the difficulties encountered, Dassault Aviation invited the Falcon Wing original equipment manufacturer to the Dassault Falcon Services hangar to enable the OEM to conduct an on-site assessment of the right-hand wing lower panel and provide independent technical recommendations aimed at expediting the repair and reinstallation process,” he said.

Mr Genfi added that these repairs have now been completed.

“The repair from the OEM has been successfully carried out, and the right-hand wing repair has also been completed. Upon the completion of this rectification, the aircraft has to undergo a leak test of the fuel tanks, a third engine ground run, painting of the wing lower panel, and finally, an acceptance flight will be performed,” he explained.

However, he stressed that the jet will return to Ghana only when it has been confirmed by experts to be safe and airworthy.

“The challenge had to do with the wing of the aircraft, and that’s why they had to engage the original equipment manufacturer to resolve it. The specific tests that will be run include the fuel tanks and a ground engine run. After that, the repaired wing will be painted. All of these have to be completed before the aircraft will return to Ghana,” he concluded.

In July this year, News about the jet surfaced after Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, questioned why the Vice President travelled by a rented jet instead of the state’s upon her return from the UK following her medical treatment. He asked whether the presidential jet was unavailable, restricted, or reassigned at the time of her private return in May.

In response to this, late Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah revealed that the jet has been grounded in France for repairs and due to the unavailability of a critical component, the turbofan, which had become severely rusted and required urgent replacement.

summariseHe said, “Ghana’s presidential jet, if I am to summarize, is an aircraft that is almost 15 years old that has massive multifocal corrosion, including very important parts of the machine.”

realised“These defects, we are trying to fix them, but they keep identifying new defects as they fix them. And one serious aspect of the identification is that, when they realised that the turbofan was heavily corroded and it required replacement, the company did not have a readily available spare,” he noted.

He also highlighted the challenges of accessing certain spare parts in the coming months or years, given the rapid advancement of technology and the fact that aircraft manufacturers rarely produce many components for older jets like Ghana’s Falcon.

“Normally, like all technologies over time, when you do not have many of that in circulation, companies do not produce many of such spares. But after a series of negotiations, a spare was received, and that has been installed successfully. And no one can predict going forward, if other spares also get dysfunctional, whether we are going to be able to have others for replacement,” the Defence Minister added.

The document, which states the detailed status report of the Falcon 900EX indicates that technicians discovered severe corrosion in the aircraft’s left-hand (LH) and right-hand (RH) feeder tanks, as well as the centre wing tanks. Corrosion and damage on Engine No. 2’s air intake plug receptacle and turbofan, which had to be completely replaced. Intermittent tripping of the starter-generator on Engine No. 2.

A series of deferred defects accumulated over previous operations that required manufacturer-level repair. The report also noted that the fuel tank contamination, if left untreated, can potentially cause engine failure during flight, posing a serious safety risk.

All these have pushed back the initial return of the presidential jet, which was initially bound for return on March 26, 2025; the aircraft’s delivery has now been postponed multiple times.

According to the Defence Minister, the delays the jet has faced at the workshop are a “worrying pattern” and indicate “an aging presidential jet.”

When the jet was flown for repairs in 2020–2021, it saw no delays. In 2022–2023, it was delayed 2.5 months. Fast forward to 2024, it saw another 2 months, and in 2025, it has been delayed for four months and counting, with the hope of its return ending in July.

Meanwhile, a security analyst, Emmanuel Kotin, did not mince words when he spoke about Ghana’s presidential jet on TV3’s The KeyPoints on Saturday, July 12.

He said, “Six years ago, I described it as a flying coffin. That is what it is. Let’s put politics aside; let’s treat this as a national emergency.”

Given Ghana’s status as a sovereign and independent country, Kotin believes, “Nobody would advise the president to use the jet. We need an aircraft befitting our status as a sovereign country.”

While some netizens have advised on the purchase of a new jet, some have also accused the government of wanting to exploit Ghanaians to purchase a new jet for their selfish gains and comfort.

The Defence Minister has highlighted the need to treat the state of the jet as a national issue and a security reason rather than a partisan one, citing that “…this is an air asset of the Air Force that carries not just the President, not just the Executive, but sometimes the Legislature, sometimes other arms of government, and sometimes other institutions.”