After a fuel imbalance issue issued prompted charges of racism, Ghana has ordered Delta Air Lines not to fly the Boeing 767-300 in question on flights to Accra. Furthermore, it has requested that Delta not to use any 767-300 on the JFK-ACC route.
Ghana Bans Delta 767-300 From Flying To Accra, Wants Different Aircraft On JFK-ACC Route
I wrote about the story in the context of a polyglot vlogger who I felt over-sensationalized a fuel balance issue that forced a Delta 767-300 traveling from New York (JFK) to Accra (ACC) to turn around over the Atlantic. The vlogger filmed himself crying in the airplane lavatory and insinuated that the plane would have run out of fuel…a false charge based upon the circumstances.
This incident went viral in Ghana, with many expressing outrage that Delta would put such an old jet on this route. Many commentators and even some elected officials in Ghana insinuated that racism was the cause of Delta choosing to you this particular 767 on the Accra route. It turns out this particular aircraft has had a lot of problems lately.
Today, the Civil Aviation Authority in Ghana released a statement banning that particular Delta 767-300, registration number N195DN, for flights to ACC:
“With immediate effect, Delta Air Lines is being advised not to dispatch the B767-332 with registration number N195DN for flights to Accra”
Live and Let’s Fly has reached out to Delta for a response.
Below is the full statement:
TEMPORARY DENIAL OF DELTA AIRCRAFT WITH REGISTRATION N-195DN
Following the events of 1st August 2022, when your aircraft with registration N195DN was forced to return to gate due to a technical problem, a team of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) inspectors were tasked to conduct an investigation or the circumstances surrounding this occurrence.
The investigation revealed that:
1. The crew reported a fuel imbalance issue with the left main tank.
2. The inbound crew experienced this same issue on the flight leg to Accra i.e., on 31st July 2022.
3. This was the same aircraft that had to return to JFK on 25th July 2022 a few hours after take-off from JFK and which was widely reported on in various media outlets.It was expected that after such a negative reportage. Delta Air Lines would have thoroughly investigated the issue to arrive at the root cause of the failure before dispatching the aircraft on flights. Rather, the aircraft was flown within the United States a number of times and then dispatched again to Accra, only for the problem to reoccur.
The Authority finds this unacceptable. Therefore, with immediate effect, Delta Air Lines is being advised not to dispatch the B767-332 with registration number N195DN for flights to Accra.
As your aging B767 fleet are of much concern to Ghanaian travelers, Delta Air Lines must put in place a plan to change the type of aircraft on the JFK-ACC-JFK route as soon as practicable. Kindly communicate this date to the undersigned in your response.
Note what I bolded. While the current ban applies only to N195DN, Ghana has asked Delta not to use any 767-300 on the Accra route.
CONCLUSION
Delta Air Lines has been blocked from deploying one of its 767-300 aircraft to Accra, following repeated technical difficulties with the aging aircraft. Furthermore, Ghana has asked Delta not to use any 767-400 on flights to Accra. This move marks a rather rapid escalation of the issue.
(image: Quintin Soloviev)
That’s it. I’m only flying Global Ghana Airlines now….oh, wait, never mind.
Delta should cut their flights to ghana.
Ghanna should be happy any airline wants to fly to their third world shithole country anyway.
Not anymore sh!tty then your racist self
Not as sh!tty as your foolish self. If you want to sit in aging, not fit for purpose planes, then do so. Ghanaians don’t want to. In fact keep your stupid airline in your country. We have better and proper airlines flying here. If it wasn’t profitable for Delta, they wouldn’t be flying here. Ode!
They took that personally didn’t they
Banning the specific plane after it had the same issue 3 times in 3 weeks seems reasonable. Something is obviously wrong with the plane or Delta’s maintenance.
Asking Delta to transition ASAP to non-767 is less reasonable and appears to be for local PR in the face of media hysteria.
My understanding is that this particular aircraft had 3 incidents on flights to Ghana in addition to a fourth incident on another route (and possibly a fifth as well – unconfirmed) within a four week period. All incidents were linked to related systems. Ghana Civil Aviation Authority requested that Delta provide evidence of remedial action and root cause analysis, which has not been forthcoming as yet. Therefore the aircraft is restricted from operations to Ghana until such request is complied with.
If those facts are accurate (which I take with a huge pinch of salt knowing Ghana aviation quite intimately), then GCAA is acting perfectly reasonably with regards to this specific airframe.
The rest of the letter about aging aircraft is editorial commentary for the peanut gallery and they really should know better (especially since I can guess who actually drafted the letter!).
Let’s read between the lines…we feel we deserve service with an A-300neo or A-350 with them fancy suites. This is so us government official can travel and be treated how we should be treated.
Good for the Ghanaians. I wouldn’t want that POS on my route either. I’ve flown both DL and UA to Accra. Give me UA anytime. Even if it requires a connection.
Today’s UA 763 from Newark to Napoli had to turn around too. No reason forthcoming.
Clearly United are racist against Neapolitans and should replace the 763 on this route with a 789 or better yet a 7810.
Logically.
This is a rare case when a government gets something right. Too many flights on this aircraft having the same issue or any issue in a 4 week period is not right. Ghana has discriminated against an aircraft which is the rational thing to do. If you know one thing or one group disproportionately has problems or is a problem, you keep it out.
The aircraft was flown a number of times within the US, according to the article (it flys other routes as well.) Is this evidence Delta is discriminating against BOTH Americans and Ghanaians? Indeed!
I’m an America who has Ghanaian friends and they say that they refuse to fly Delta because Delta always send the newer planes to Europe but the older, dirty crappy planes to Africa. The Ghanaians must be right. They’ve been refusing to fly Delta for over 4 years now.
They use those 767-300s all over Europe and on their premium transcontinental flights between Los Angeles and New York. Do they hate Angelenos as well?
I flew to Maui in a DL 767. They hate Hawaiians too.
@koggerj
Just a little respect.
If you call some country shithole maybe have some walk in downown of some of the US cities.
@MatthewKlint
You very right for eg Slc-Ams as well.
I think the Ghanians have some postcolonial traumas.
Matthew that is correct, Delta flies the 767 to. London, a prestige route from New York’s JFK.
I do not see anything ‘racist’ about flying the 767 to Africa. Delta flies it’s flagships product to Africa too – look at Johannesburg
@Fonzi, Ghana is a dump compared to just about any major American city’s downtown. Also, learn “some” proper English.
@DirkaDirka
Yes, Ghana might be a dump but they do not claim they are 1st world. Ok? And orry, English is my 6th language i have learned. How many do you speak beside being language Nazi?
What’s truly astounding is 1he “Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) inspectors” issued their conclusions without referencing the technical details in how they made them or the scope of their investigation, as one would expect. I don’t know what similar sized aircraft are capable of flying this route, but it’s safe to say even if it exists in Deltas fleet there’s not a lot of crew flexibility for a major switch at the moment.
If Delta mechanics and flight crew members are willing to sign off on the aircraft being safe and certified for travel, I will fly on it. If their investigation revealed actionable data from more than just stories in the news, they should forward such information to Delta and the relevant FAA office immediately. Since they mentioned the aircraft is being used in the US, to stop Deltas discrimination against Americans, of course.
Then just to figure out how to deliver the amazing customer service Delta provides its US domestic passengers to Ghanians.
I suspect the charge of racism stems from Delta’s refusal to provide hotel accommodations to distressed Ghana-bound passengers rather than the airplane itself.
Who said that Delta refused to provide hotel accommodations?